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YALE 

HISTORICAL PUBLICATIONS 

MISCELLANY 

IV 

ISSUED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE 

DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY 

FROM THE INCOME OF 

THE FREDERICK JOHN KINGSBURY 

MEMORIAL FUND 



The Readjuster Movement 
in Virginia 



By 
CHARLES CHILTON PEARSON, Ph.D. 

Professor of Political Science in Wake Forest College 




NEW HAVEN: YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS 

LONDON: HUMPHREY MILFORD 

OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS 

MDCCCCXVII 



F~Z3t 






(W* 



i 



Copyright, 1917 
By Yale University Press 



First published, July, 1917 




SEP 26 1917 



•vS 






THE FREDEEICK JOHN KINGSBURY 
MEMORIAL PUBLICATION FUND 

The present volume is the fifth work published by the 
Yale University Press on the Frederick John Kingsbury 
Memorial Publication Fund. This foundation was estab- 
lished August 3, 1912, by gifts to Yale University from 
Alice E. and Edith Davies Kingsbury, in memory of 
their father, Frederick John Kingsbury, LL.D., who was 
born in Waterbury, Connecticut, January 1, 1823, and 
died at Litchfield, Connecticut, September 30, 1910. 
Mr. Kingsbury was a graduate of Yale College in the 
Class of 1846, and an Alumni Fellow of the Yale 
Corporation from 1881 to 1899. The income of the 
Foundation is used "to promote the knowledge of 
American history and to associate the name of Frederick 
John Kingsbury with this study at Yale. ' ' 



PREFACE 

The half century just ended is the "Dark Age" of the 
South. Beginning with the attempt of Radicals to build 
upon the ruins of the old a foreign and ultra-democratic 
system, this period is probably now coming to its end in 
the educational and economic renaissance. And the over- 
lapping of the two ages may be studied today, throughout 
the older South, in farm and factory, state debt and 
schools, in poor white and aristocrat and "substantial 
citizen," and in the still uncertain status of the negro 
citizen and voter. 

After the brief reign of Radicalism, during the "Dark 
Age, ' ' came a time of reaction, when ' ' Confederate Brig- 
adiers" ruled, and the South was "solid." This was 
good. Times were exceedingly "hard," however, and 
heavy depression lay upon the spirit of the people. The 
excesses of Radicalism had disgusted many. So the 
gradual democratic advance discernible under the old 
system, to which war should have imparted a stimulus, 
was sharply checked. 

During this time of reaction there occurred in most, 
if not all, of the Southern states a series of independent 
movements, some of which are still manifesting them- 
selves. The earlier of these movements were aided by 
the vote of the negro ; the later, by the prejudice against 
him. In all, however, the leaders professed themselves 
inspired with zeal for the interests of the common white 
man. And it is not improbable that, studied closely and 
together, these movements may prove to have been, in 
origin and effects, democratic — an outworking of forces 



viii PEEFACE 

strengthened by war but restrained by reaction, and, 
however crude and sordid, harbingers of the renaissance. 

One of the earliest and most far-reaching of these 
movements occurred in Virginia. It gathered about a 
state debt of long and interesting history. Eventually it 
produced a leader of national importance. This study, 
however, is not primarily an account either of the debt 
or of Mahone and his machine. It is, rather, a chapter in 
the history of Virginia, from the Civil War to the first 
administration of Grover Cleveland, in which some of the 
forces that moulded the present state are shown in their 
operation; and in the showing the "Readjuster" claim 
to liberalism, democracy, and progress is tested and due 
record made of the achievements and solid worth of those 
who stood for conservatism, aristocracy, and scrupulous 
honesty. 

Hearty thanks are due to many who have aided me. 
Some have loaned materials or given information, speci- 
fic acknowledgment of which is made below. The Vir- 
ginia State Library staff have been untiringly helpful 
and courteous. Under the encouragement of Professor 
William A. Dunning the task had its beginning; if its 
completion proves worth while, the credit is due pri- 
marily to the sympathetic interest and practical assist- 
ance of Professor Max Parrand. In preparing the 
manuscript for the press Professor C. M. Andrews has 
placed me under lasting obligations. 

C. C. Peaeson. 

Wake Forest, N. C, 
January 1, 1917. 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Preface ........ vii 

Chapter I. The State Debt and the Old 

Regime, 1784-1867 . . 1 

Chapter II. Radicalism, 1867-1869 . . 17 

Chapter III. "Restoration of Credit," 1870- 

1871 24 

Chapter IV. Reaction, and the Courts, 1871- 

1873 35 

Chapter V. "Debt Payers," and the Ele- 
ments of Dissatisfaction, 1874- 

1877 47 

Chapter VI. Mahone and the Barbour Bill, 

1877-1878 .... 68 

Chapter VII. The "McCulloch Act," and the 

State's Capacity, 1878-1879 . 85 

Chapter VIII. The "Readjuster" Convention, 

1879 95 

Chapter IX. Sections and Leaders, 1879 . 103 
Chapter X. The Readjuster Campaign, 1879 118 
Chapter XL National Influences: The Re- 
adjuster-Republican Alliance, 
1880-1881 .... 132 
Chapter XII. The Readjusters in Power, 1879- 

1883 142 

Chapter XIII. The End of Readjustment, 1883- 

1885 160 

Conclusion ....... 175 

Bibliographical Note ..... 178 

Index ........ 187 



CHAPTER I 

THE STATE DEBT AND THE OLD REGIME, 

1784-1867 

From the Revolution to the Civil War one of the most 
important economic and social activities of the state of 
Virginia was the furtherance of a system of "Public 
Works." 1 

There were four main stages in the legislation under 
which this system was developed. It was inaugurated 
in 1784 when the state became, through purchase, a 
minority stockholder in corporations created for the 
improvement of the James and Potomac rivers. Among 
the sponsors for this beginning were a Newton, a 
Taylor, an Ambler, and a Southall, names still honored 
in Virginia; and a peculiar but characteristic mingling 
of business and sentiment appeared in the gift by 
the commonwealth of shares to "George Washington, 
esquire," in appreciation of his "unexampled merits" 
and his interest in enterprises which, the legislature 
thought, would be "the durable monuments of his 
glory." 2 To the policy thus begun a decided impetus 
was imparted in 1816 when all the state's holdings in 

i There is no adequate study of the social and economic aspects of this 
system. Sydenstricker and Burger's School History of Virginia (1914) 
gives a brief but correct account based on the work of Mr. Sydenstricker 
which is still in manuscript. C. H. Ambler, in his Sectionalism in Virginia 
from 1776 to 1861, has described its political bearings in elaborate and 
scholarly fashion. 

2W. W. Hening, Statutes at Large, XI, pp. 450, 510, 525. Cf. G. S. 
Callender, Economic History of the United States, p. 335 (quoting). 



2 READJUSTEE MOVEMENT IN VIRGINIA 

such companies were converted into one fund pledged 
for fifty years to the sole purpose of improving traffic 
and communication and managed by a special "Board 
of Public Works." 3 As the demands on this fund were 
greater than could be met by it, the legislature in 1838 
directed the board to obtain money for all authorized 
improvements by selling state bonds. 4 This was an 
important step ; for it meant that the state was entering, 
on credit, a business that was necessarily speculative. 
Here, practically, began the state debt. Twelve years 
later the fully developed policy was embodied in an act, 
still in force when the Civil War began, under which the 
board might borrow "from time to time, on the credit 
of the state of Virginia, such sums of money as may be 
needed to redeem the engagements of the state," which, 
of course, included not only new investments but also 
unearned interest. 5 In the development of this policy 
the western counties were most insistent. 6 

Behind this policy lay one great purpose, clearly 
indicated by the act of 1816 and adhered to with reason- 
able fidelity throughout the period. It was to knit 
together and develop the commonwealth as an economic 
unit. Such unity was demanded by the state's geo- 
graphic divisions, the rivalry of outside markets, and 
the untouched wealth of the trans-Alleghany region. 

3 Revised Code of the Laws of Virginia, 1819, II, p. 201. The state's 
holdings in banks were placed in the same fund. 

*Code of Virginia, 1849, p. 342; Journal of the Senate of the Common- 
wealth of Virginia, 1877-1878, Doc. XXIV, being a report of the committee 
on finance, prepared by Bradley T. Johnson. This journal will be cited 
hereafter as Sen. Jour., the corresponding one of the House as House Jour. 
Documents are to be found (unless otherwise indicated) in the appendix 
of each. 

s Code of Virginia, 1860, p. 386. 

e Brief of Attorney-General William A. Anderson, in Virginia vs. West 
Virginia, Supreme Court of the U. S., October term, 1909. Original Record, 
p. 5. 



THE STATE DEBT 3 

Railroads, canals, turnpikes, were thought the best 
instrumentalities; so for these the state borrowed and 
spent. Powerful business interests, antagonistic sec- 
tions, political parties all tried to shape the system in 
their own behalf, but none seriously opposed it as a 
whole. And when, in 1861, the policy was abruptly 
terminated, it had pre-empted the natural lines of 
commerce. 7 

The prevailing method of investment was determined 
in part by this dominant purpose and in part by the 
tendency of local capital to lock itself up in lands and 
labor. Instead of building and owning outright, the 
state endeavored to entice capital into transportation 
ventures by chartering stock companies therefor and 
itself becoming a partner in them. Terms too strict 
would have defeated the end; and so the state was 
generally less well secured than private undertakers; 
and often very poorly secured. 8 But the results obtained 
were distinctly creditable. For the thirty-five millions 9 
which the state had invested down to 1861, it had secured, 
besides smaller improvements, a canal from Richmond 
to the Valley and a railroad system which cost nearly 
seventy millions and which was nearly half as long in 
miles as that of all New England. 10 

7 Cf. Anderson, op. cit., and Ambler, Sectionalism, passim; Charles 
Bruce, Speech in the Senate of Virginia on the Internal Improvement 
Policy of the State, February 16, 1858 (1858). 

8 See terms of act of 1816, op. cit.; Messages and Documents, 1861-1862, 
No. 8; Bruce, op. cit.; Governor, Message, March 8, 1870. The governor's 
messages will be found in both Sen. Jour, and House Jour, under date of 
messages ; they will be cited by date only. 

9 Bound numbers will be used wherever exactness is not necessary to 
clearness. 

io Expenditure figures are taken from Messages and Documents, 1861- 
1862, No. 8, table J; railroad figures from American Eailroad Journal, 
January 5, 1861. $1,784,000 was spent by the state without the aid of a 
stock company. The total length of the railroad system was 2,483 miles; 



4 EEADJUSTER MOVEMENT IN VIRGINIA 

The extent to which this policy dominated all other 
social and economic activities of the state finds striking 
illustration in its attitude toward education. 11 A "Lit- 
erary Fund," nominally created in 1810 by the 
segregation of certain small revenues, was firmly 
established in 1816 by turning into it the proceeds of 
a large war debt which the federal government had paid, 
the whole being solemnly pledged to educational pur- 
poses. This fund appears to have been honestly handled 
and was gradually increased until in 1860 it amounted 
to over a million and three-quarters of dollars invested 
mainly in state bonds. Most of the income from it and 
all the poll tax receipts after 1851 were regularly 
apportioned to the counties and towns. But the educa- 
tion offered was intended only for confessed indigents 
selected in aristocratic fashion by a board of local 
officials. The schools used were private with but nominal 
public supervision. Only in rare cases was assistance 
extended beyond the most elementary stages. Not 
unfittingly was the system often called the "pauper 
system, ' n2 a name which expressed the fundamental idea 
of the ruling class that a man's children should be 
educated by himself, in proportion to his social status. 
Any considerable education of the masses, they believed, 

in operation, 1,805 miles. The amount invested in railroads by the state 
was some twenty millions. The estimates of B. T. Johnson (op. cit.) are 
somewhat larger. 

11 State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Reports, especially for 
1871 and 1878, printed separately and in Annual Reports of Officers, Boards 
and Institutions of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Eeports in the latter 
collection will be cited (as above) under name of the reporting official or 
official board. See also House Jour., 1838, Doc. 4; Documents and Mes- 
sages, 1861-1862, No. 7; A. D. Mayo, Education in Southivest Virginia; 
Ambler, Sectionalism, ch. IX; G. W. Dyer, Democracy in the South before 
the Civil War. No account is taken here of appropriations to professional 
or collegiate institutions. 

i 2 This term was used in other states at similar stages of public school 
development. 



THE STATE DEBT 5 

must lead to unrest which could result only in disap- 
pointment or in " levelling. ' ' Only when charity abso- 
lutely demanded it should the state intervene. 13 Yet, 
despite the tremendous power of such opinion, the annual 
amount thus spent increased from $44,000 in 1836 to 
$214,000 in 1860, and the number thus "educated," 
from 18,000 to 62,000— which meant that by 1860 the 
state was paying the tuition of one-half of those at school 
within the limits of the present Virginia. Moreover, in 
some western counties and in parts of the older section 
open to outside influences, the desire for state aid had 
prompted experiments in schools supported jointly by 
state and local governments and free, or nearly free, to 
all. These facts, together with the reports sent in to 
Richmond by local officials, irregular and imperfect 
though they were, seem to demonstrate clearly that the 
old aristocratic idea was giving way before the new and 
democratic impulse. 14 Could a direct issue have been 
forced, the latter must have triumphed. But eastern 
Virginia had now become politically and financially 
committed to the policy of internal improvements, while 
the western part of the state, always the leader in 
democratic movements, was too much absorbed in its 
desire for more railroads and more turnpikes, 15 to put 
the matter to a test. 

On the whole, fiscal conditions and prospects in 1860 
appeared to be satisfactory. There was, indeed, a 

is Professor Dyer thinks otherwise : ' ' The method of Virginia may be 
criticised, but the motive was thoroughly democratic," Democracy in the 
South, p. 77. 

i* Another defect, inherent in the dominant theory, was the lack of 
co-ordination and adequate supervision. Strongly backed attempts had 
been made to remedy this also. 

is Ambler, Sectionalism, passim. Professor Ambler attributes the 
unusual activity in building public works from 1850 to 1860 to the program 
for a united South. Ibid., 311. 



6 READJUSTEE MOVEMENT IN VIRGINIA 

bonded debt of $33,000,000. 16 But offsetting this were 
assets of a face value of $43,000,000, consisting chiefly 
of the stocks and bonds of the railroads and canals. 17 
As yet less than one-fifth of these were yielding the state 
an income ; but most of the rest, as most of the debt, had 
been accumulated only within the last decade, and time 
was needed to make extensions and develop the western 
trade, for which purpose charters had already been 
issued and appropriations authorized. 18 That the debt 
had trebled within the last decade and would probably 
continue to increase under the operation of the act of 
1850 was certainly ominous. But, on the other hand, the 
constitution adopted in 1850 removed old dangers by 
forbidding the state to guarantee corporate liabilities 
or release the corporations from their obligations to it. 
The constitution also provided for a sinking fund which 
must be adequate, safe, and unimpairable in times of 
peace, and into which must be converted the proceeds 
of any assets sold. 19 Back of debt and speculative 
assets was a settled population of over a million and a 
half, two-thirds of which was white, and property worth 
over a billion dollars. From dividends and from taxes 
on polls, incomes, property, and business licenses the 
state derived an annual revenue of over four millions, 20 
of which less than one million was needed for the ordi- 
nary purposes of government. 21 Back of all this was a 
record of fiscal honor which none was disposed to tarnish 

is Exclusive of the bonds owned by the literary and sinking funds, 
Messages and Documents, 1861-1862, No. 8. There was a small sterling 
debt. 

it Ibid., table T. 

is Ibid., table K. There appears to have been no ' ■ water ' ' in the stock 
of these "public works." 

is F. N. Thorpe, American Charters, Constitutions, and Organic Laws, 
VII, 3841-3842. This will be cited as Thorpe. 

20 Auditor, Report, 1861-1862. 

2i Cf. p. 54. 



THE STATE DEBT 7 

by questioning the honesty of the debt or the state's 
ability to pay it. State bonds in the first half of 1860 
sold above 90. 22 

When the Civil War was over, the state 's great system 
of public works was an utter ruin. 23 The canal lay 
incomplete, dismantled, profitless — "a great gash across 
the heart of the commonwealth." Though, bit by bit, 
the railroads patched up their worn-out rails and rolling- 
stock, rebuilt burned bridges and depots, and opened for 
business, yet it was all too obvious that they must have 
time and a great deal of money before they either paid 
dividends or met the needs of the people. 24 Western 
Virginia, for the development of which these railroads 
had been built so largely, and to which the worn-out 
eastern counties had looked for a lightening of taxes, v 
was now gone, a full third of the old state. 

Sadly reduced, too, was the people's tax-paying 
capacity. 25 ''By the abolition of slavery and of the 
'Confederate debt,' " said the Commercial and Finan- 
cial Chronicle,™ "nearly the whole of the accumulated 
and available capital of the South was practically 
annihilated." Of the rest, that which had been invested 
directly in the public works brought little return or none, 
and that which had been invested in state bonds, perhaps 

22 For favorable opinion see Journal of Banking, Currency and Finance, 
January, 1860. 

23 Contemporary newspapers ; ' ' Personal Eeeollections. ' ' 

24 American Bailroad Journal, July 1, 15, 29; September 9, 23; October 
14; November 4, 1865; also, 1866, 1867, 1868, passim. 

25 An interesting report on the losses of war, made by a committee 
consisting of ex-Governor William Smith, W. T. Taliaferro, and T. J. 
Armstrong, and adopted by the House, January 13, 1877, was as follows: 
personal property, $116,000,000; realty, $121,000,000; internal improve- 
ments, $26,000,000; banking capital, $15,000,000; circulation, $12,000,000; 
state's interest in banks, $4,000,000; slaves and other property, $163,- 
000,000. 

26 January 18, 1868. 



8 READJUSTEE MOVEMENT IN VIRGINIA 

the greater part of the whole debt, 27 was shrunk two- 
thirds in market value. Farm lands, long deteriorating, 
now through the necessary change in labor system had 
become less desirable from a social point of view, and 
less productive, too, even where the ex-slave settled down 
on a wage or crop-sharing basis. 28 As offsets there were, 
indeed, high prices for tobacco, corn, and wheat, and a 
rise of land values in and about the towns, which was 
caused by the shifting of the native population and the 
incoming of outsiders. 29 But, despite the excellent credit 
of Virginia farmers abroad, to borrow on lands divorced 
from slaves was difficult. 30 Yet borrow one must for 
fences, for farming implements and livestock, for 
houses, for mills — for almost everything which four 
years of business stagnation and ruthless devastation 
could destroy. With state assets and the tax-paying 
power of the people fully two-thirds reduced, what hope 
was there for the payment of the public debt now 
increased by war time interest to $38,000,000 ? 31 

The legislature which faced this almost hopeless 

27 Governor, Message, December 4, 1865. In 1887 ex-Governor Peir- 
point stated that 80 per cent was supposed to be owned in Virginia just 
after the war, E. H. Hancock, Autobiography of John E. Massey, p. 120 
(cited hereafter as Massey, Autobiography). Wm. L. Boyall, History of 
the Virginia State Debt Controversy, p. 6, and John P. McConnell, in The 
South in the Building of the Nation, I, p. 133, appear to hold a contrary 
opinion. The sale to outsiders was rapid. In 1874 it was estimated that 
only one-fourth was owned in Virginia, Second Auditor, Beport, 1874. 

28 B. B. Munford, Virginia's Attitude toward Slavery and Secession, ch. 
19; B. W. Arnold, History of the Tobacco Industry in Virginia, ch. 2. 

29 The increase in the number of whites at work was at least offset by 
the waste in the general transition; nor should the increase be estimated 
too highly, Callender, Economic History, p. 783, and Dyer, in The South in 
the Building of the Nation, X, ch. 9. 

30 See Euffin in Eichmond Whig, Sept. 25, 1874. Cf. below pp. 25-27, 44. 
3i Governor, Message, December 4, 1865. The literary and sinking funds 

are not included, and will not be in future statements of the amount of 
the debt. 



THE STATE DEBT 9 

situation in December, 1865, was the last one thoroughly 
characteristic of ante-bellum Virginia. 32 Its acts, there- 
fore, are important not only as immediately affecting 
fiscal affairs but also as disclosing mental and moral 
attitudes, the stubborn yielding of which to changed 
conditions forms a large part of the history of the next 
generation. 

Foremost among the important matters to which 
Governor Peirpoint called the attention of this leg- 
islature was the state debt, for the payment of the 
interest on which bondholders were "pressing.", 
Several honorable courses lay open. The legislature 
might delay action pending a settlement with West 
Virginia, for which the organic laws of both states 
provided. 33 By so doing it would secure the aid of 
powerful private interests in compelling a settlement, 
and thus definitely limit the state's obligations. It 
might frankly recognize that the state was bankrupt and 
seek a compromise with creditors, for men afterwards 
said that fifty per cent in new bonds would have been 

32 Eiehmond Enquirer, March 3, 1866. Under Lincoln's plan of recon- 
struction as amended by Johnson the hitherto shadowy government of 
' ' loyal ' ' Virginia, administered from Alexandria for the most part, was 
extended to all Virginia. Peirpoint was governor. The legislature was 
chosen on practically the same basis as before the war, Eckenrode, Political 
Reconstruction of Virginia, ch. 3. John B. Baldwin was speaker of the 
House. 

33 The constitution of West Virginia and the act of the ' ' loyal ' ' 
Virginia legislature assenting to the division of the state clearly created 
a contract between the two states under which their legislatures were to 
adjust the debt. The act of Congress admitting the new state ratified this 
contract. The secession convention at Wheeling, August 3, 1861, had 
specified terms of adjustment, but these were not mentioned in any of the 
above documents and were expressly repudiated by the constitution of 
"loyal" Virginia {Thorpe, VII, 3862). The United States Supreme Court 
decided in 1870 (11 Wall., 39) that a contract had been created as above, 
and, in 1911, that the Wheeling terms were only a "preliminary sugges- 
tion" (220 V. S., 1). 



10 READJUSTEE MOVEMENT IN VIRGINIA 

accepted. 34 Instead, by act of March 2, 1866, the legis- 
lature not only assumed full responsibility for the entire 
ante-bellum principal but also authorized the funding of 
the entire war-time interest into bonds bearing the same 
rate of interest as the principal, payment of interest on 
the whole to begin the following year. This action was 
the utmost that any creditor asked. It was taken without 
a hint of improper influences and without recorded 
opposition. 35 

Chief among the reasons for this policy was a scrupu- 
lous regard for the state's unblemished fiscal record. 36 
Another was the attitude toward West Virginia. Ignor- 
ing the tendency of fifty years 37 and the events of the 
last four years, the members of the legislature issued 
a confident "appeal to their brethren of West Virginia" 
for the "restoration of the ancient commonwealth of 
Virginia, with all her people, and up to her former 
boundaries," and appointed a commission to effect it. 
Only after the commission had failed in this effort was 
it to treat for a division of the public debt and assets. 38 

At the second session of the legislature the debt ques- 
tion was re-opened. West Virginia had taken no action. 
Crops had been poor. Private debts were pressing and 
there was talk of scaling them. Why, men asked here 

34 A very interesting suggestion was offered by J. Willeox Brown, later 
a banker of Virginia and Baltimore, that after assuming the debt and 
levying taxes therefor the state should invite some English bankers to act 
as trustees, take over her assets and make the best possible terms. Such 
a course might have changed the entire post-bellum history, Brown Papers. 

35 Acts of the General Assembly of the State of Virginia, passed in 1865- 
1866, p. 79; House and Senate Journals, 1865-1866, index; Governor, Mes- 
sage, December 4, 1865; contemporary Whig, Enquirer. 

36 This record was mentioned by foreign creditors time and again. The 
faith of English business concerns in Virginia farmers was similarly 
strong. See ' ' Financial Eelief That Might Have Been, ' ' Brown Tapers. 

37 Ambler, Sectionalism, passim. 

38 Acts, 1865-1866, p. 453 (being joint resolution of February 28, 1866). 



THE STATE DEBT 11 

and there, should not the public debt be scaled in propor- 
tion to losses? In this "wild talk" lay the germ of 
repudiation. 39 But the legislature formally reprobated 
such sentiments, discussed nothing more dangerous than 
declining responsibility for West Virginia's share — a 
suggestion endorsed by some creditors — and, finally, 
regretting its inability to do more, authorized the pay- 
ment of four instead of six per cent interest for the 
current year, "that being the amount which this state 
feels obliged to pay until there is a settlement of 
accounts between this state and West Virginia." 40 
Holders of coupon bonds could, of course, receive full 
interest by presenting their coupons for taxes or other 
state dues, and the same privilege was accorded holders 
of registered bonds. 41 To meet the interest voted and 
the expenses of government, the relatively high tax of 
thirty cents was imposed on personalty and on realty 
as valued in 1856. 42 No pressure appears to have been 

so Governor, Message, December 3, 1866; Auditor, Beport, 1866; Ameri- 
can Annual Cyclopedia, 1866, article "Virginia." The last (which became 
Appleton's with 1876) will be cited as Annual Cyc, and all references not 
otherwise indicated will be to "Virginia." The Whig, however, declared 
that it had heard of no desire to scale the public debt prior to the governor 's 
message. 

40 Acts, 1866-1867, December 20, March 21; editorial resume of daily- 
debates in Whig and Enquirer. For positions of these papers on the debt 
see Enquirer, December 5, 1866, and Whig, March 19, 20, 22, 1867. The 
vote on the act appropriating four per cent was: House, 58 to 18; Senate, 
17 to 2. James Branch, of Thomas Branch & Co., bankers and brokers of 
Biehmond, suggested a compromise with creditors on the basis of 6 per 
cent bonds for seventy per cent of the debt and certificates of West 
Virginia's indebtedness for the rest, Enquirer, February 4, 1867. The best 
people of West Virginia, in the opinion of Mr. Septimus Hall who has given 
this phase much study, desired at this time to make a settlement. 

4i Act of April 25, 1867. 

42 Thirty cents on each $100, the customary statement of the tax rate in 
this state. Valuation for taxation was called "assessing"; this was made 
annually for personalty, every five years for realty. There were other 
taxes. 



12 EEADJUSTER MOVEMENT IN VIRGINIA 

used to obtain these results. Yet by this time it was 
certain that the state would be degraded, as no state had 
ever been degraded under the Congressional reconstruc- 
tion measures. Moreover, bonds were rapidly passing 
out of the hands of native owners. Hints were, indeed, 
thrown out to the North by the Whig i3 that repudiation 
of private and public debts might be invited. But the 
legislature appeared blind alike to economic conditions 
and to the possibilities of compromise, sensitive only to 
the old ideas of honor. 

Viewed from the debt standpoint only, the question of 
the state 's assets 44 was quite simple : Should they be sold 
at once to reduce the immediate burden or should they 
be retained as a source of future revenue! Past policy 
and the prevailing confidence in the future suggested the 
latter; the burden of the interest and the cheapness of 
state bonds urged the former. But as these assets con- 
sisted chiefly of the stocks and bonds of railroads 
within the state, the transportation problem must also 
be considered. 

Under the old policy the natural routes for great 
railroads had been pre-empted. 45 From north to south 
connecting short lines crossed the state at two points. 
One could go from Norfolk on the coast to Bristol in 
the far west by using three roads — the Norfolk and 
Petersburg, the Southside, and the Virginia and Ten- 
nessee. From Richmond to Covington in Alleghany 
County ran the Virginia Central. Charters had been 
issued and appropriations authorized to continue these 
westward lines, the one through Cumberland Gap, the 
other through the undeveloped Greenbrier county to the 

43 December 5, 12, 1866; March 20, 1867. 
4* For condition, see Governor, Message, December 4, 1865. 
45 With the exception of that of the Virginian Eailroad, recently con- 
structed. 



THE STATE DEBT 13 

Ohio, both seeking the Mississippi. Among these and 
the other numerous short lines a fair degree of unity 
had been attained, because through the Board of Public 
Works, as a kind of holding company, the state sub- 
scriptions had been made and the state stock voted. 46 
But all of these roads now needed money, 47 and this the 
state could no longer supply directly, or indirectly. 48 
The needs of commerce, therefore, seemed to demand, 
as the governor kept insisting, that the old policy 
should give way to private ownership and consolidated 
management. 49 

To this problem of the state's assets the legislature 
addressed itself at greater length and with more heat 
than to any other. Advocates of immediate reduction 
of the debt principal, supported by private interests, 
urged a general sale to the highest bidder. 50 But it was 
too much, so frankly to declare Virginia bankrupt and 
so completely to reverse the policy of the past. Most 
of the roads were, indeed, permitted to buy out the 
state's interests in them. They were permitted also to 
combine their managements. But each permission was 
carefully hedged about with restrictions and guarantees 

46 F. A. Magruder, Recent Administration in Virginia, p. 147. 

47 Cf. American 'Railroad Journal, October 23; November 4; December 
16, 1865. 

48 Thorpe, VII, 3861-3862. 

49 There is nowhere a full description of the situation, see Governor, 
Message, December, 1865 and 1866; Enquirer, January 30, 31; March 7; 
Richmond Dispatch, January 23, 31, February 6, 23; Whig, March 6, 
April 19, 1867. 

so A bill to this effect attached as a rider to the act of March 21, 1867, 
for payment of interest on the public debt passed the House, Jour., 1866- 
1867, extra sess., pp. 63-64. For the long fight against outside control, see 
Ambler, Sectionalism, index, under "Baltimore and Ohio." Objections 
are succinctly given in Whig, December 8, 1866; see also Enquirer, March 
21, 22; Dispatch, March 21, 1867. Motives appear in various resolutions, 
e.g., House Jour., 1865-1866, pp. 65, 377; ibid., 1866-1867, pp. 12, 132, 208. 



14 READJUSTEE MOVEMENT IN VIRGINIA 

intended to prevent monopoly and to secure long-desired 
extensions, quite in conformity with the state's former 
policy. 51 

Similarly, other acts of this legislature showed it to 
be following old prevailing tendencies, often failing 
to grasp or deliberately ignoring new conditions. No 
attempt was made to compel an equitable compromise 
of old private debts, the security for which was gone 
in whole or in part. Instead, acts merely staying their 
collection until 1869 were passed. 52 With loanable funds 
commanding from ten to fifty per cent, pleas for a 
relaxation of the six per cent legal rate were refused. 53 
As slavery had been patriarchal, so now equally patri- 
archal was the legislation directly affecting the freed- 
man: if the latter stayed at home and attended to his 
work, he was better protected than the ignorant white; 
if he insisted upon being idle, he was practically 
remanded to servitude; if he committed crime, his own 
race could testify for or against him, but only before 
white judges and juries. 54 Though old appropriations to 
collegiate and professional schools were revived, ele- 
mentary education was neglected. 55 

Outside the legislature, also, old forces reasserted 
themselves. The ex-planter paid his negroes a share of 

51 Out of such acts, when supplemented by further concessions, were to 
grow the Atlantic, Mississippi and Ohio, the Virginia Midland, and the 
Chesapeake and Ohio, Acts of April 18, February 14, March 1, 1867. 

52 Acts of March 2, 1866; March 2, 1867. 

ss Governor, Message, December, 1866; Whig, January 29; February 3, 
1866. J. Willcox Brown gives details of an English scheme to lend five 
million dollars at six and one-half per cent on security of Virginia farm 
lands which was blocked by this refusal, Brown Papers. 

54 Acts, 1865-1867, pp. 83, 84, 89, 91; Eckenrode, Political Reconstruction, 
ch. 3; McConnell, Negroes and their Treatment, chs. 6, 7, 8. 

55 An argument advanced against the levying of taxes for debt interest 
at this time was that the proceeds might be used by the federal government 
to support public schools, Whig, March 20, 1867. 



THE STATE DEBT 15 

the crop instead of board and clothes. Grown men 
studied law as they would have been doing three or four 
years before had there been no war. Among the news- 
papers, the Enquirer and the Whig again dictated public 
opinion, seldom agreeing. Far behind, the Dispatch 
gathered news and talked business. Men wanted to 
revive their old party lines. 56 When a party conven- 
tion met, there was the old oligarchical dominance. 57 
Nowhere do we meet with new ideas, nowhere with an 
adequate appreciation of what had happened ; but every- 
where we find infinite patience with the ex-slave, a stub- 
born clinging to what was deemed honor, and a strange 
capacity for silent, cheerful suffering. 

Thus before the Civil War Virginia concentrated her 
economic activities upon a system of public works, with 
the result that in 1861 she possessed assets in railroads 
and canals of great potential value but offset by a very 
large public debt. There was an increasing demand for 
state participation in public education and the like. But 
this demand was met only partially because it conflicted 
at once with the policy of internal improvements and 
with the individualistic and aristocratic ideas of the 
ruling class. Consequently, state expenditures were 
small and taxes light, and the credit of the state was 
excellent. The first legislature after the war was rep- 
resentative of the old regime. Though the balance 
between debt and assets had been fearfully upset, this 
legislature recognized the debt as absolutely binding and 
tried to provide for interest payment. Most of the rail- 
road assets, it permitted to pass into private hands but 
under careful restrictions. It made no provision what- 
ever for schools or charities. In these and most other 

56 Below, p. 20. 

57 Below, p. 20. 



16 READJUSTEE MOVEMENT IN VIRGINIA 

respects the old ruling class showed itself to be adhering 
to past policies and standards. New ideas appearing 
were the consolidation of railroads, which was grudg- 
ingly and partially accepted, and the scaling of public 
and private debts, which was not seriously considered. 



CHAPTER II 
RADICALISM, 1867-1869 

Hard upon this conservative legislature came the 
''Radical" constitutional convention of 1867-1869. 1 
Called to ''reconstruct" the state according to Congres- 
sional mandate, this convention in both its membership 
and its acts savored much of outside influences, and was 
characterized by ignorance and self-seeking. None the 
less, both its acts and its membership indicated, in how- 
ever absurdly exaggerated form, social forces released or 
newly created that would have to be dealt with in the 
future. 

Negroes, "scalawags," and "carpet-baggers" pre- 
dominated, with only a few scions of the old regime to 
hector and oppose them. Unmindful of economic condi- 
tions, they struck "frugality" from the ancient Bill of 
Rights ; but mindful of the f reedmen to whom they owed 
their unwonted prominence, they inserted the "equal 
civil and political rights and public privileges" of all 
citizens. 2 These two alterations give the key to their 
plan of government. 

i ' ' Eadical ' ' and ' ' Bepublican ' ' were ordinarily used without distinction, 
and will be so used herein. This sketch, based on Eckenrode, Political 
Reconstruction, the convention journals, and the contemporary Eichmond 
newspapers, is intended to show only the popular and expansive features 
of the constitution. 

2 Section 15 of the Bill of Eights as adopted in 1851 read: "That no 
free government, or the blessings of liberty, can be preserved to any people 
but by a firm adherence to justice, moderation, temperance, frugality, and 
virtue, and by a frequent recurrence to fundamental principles." Com- 
pare this with section 17 in the document as adopted in 1869. Section 20 



18 READJUSTEE MOVEMENT IN VIRGINIA 

Suffrage was to be based on manhood; jury service 
and office-holding, on suffrage. 3 Where before some 
twenty officials had served the average county's needs, 
there was now to be a minimum of forty-eight, all elected 
for short terms and mostly by "townships" or smaller 
territorial divisions so that power might not gravitate 
into strong hands and "the people" lose their rights. 
For similar reasons judicial power was transferred from 
the old county board of justices to a county judge, and 
above him was the circuit court, above it the supreme 
court, forming a complex and costly system. All of 
these judges were dependent upon the legislature for 
appointment, salary, and possibly tenure. The legisla- 
ture was also empowered to appoint all administrative 
officials except three, including all school officials, the 
Board of Public Works, and such other boards as it 
might be pleased to establish. Instead of the old system 
of public aid doled out to indigents for education, a 
uniform system of schools, free to all classes, adequately 
supervised, and liberally supported by specified funds 
and taxes, was to be established at once, and by 1876 
extended equally and fully to all the counties and towns. 
The burden of taxation should no longer fall upon the 
poor; for the state might levy no poll tax above one 
dollar, and the local government none above fifty cents, 
and all other taxation should be ad valorem. 4 " 

Significant for the future was the attitude of the con- 
vention toward debts. The wild talk of 1866 5 now took 
the form of many resolutions offered by Radical mem- 

of the latter reads : ' ' That all citizens of the state are hereby declared to 
possess equal civil and political rights and public privileges." 

3 For the attempted disqualification of Confederates see below. 

* A few specified license taxes and cases where values could not be 
ascertained form exceptions to the general principle. Business capital and 
incomes over $600 were taxed as other property. 

s Above, p. 10. 



RADICALISM, 1867-1869 19 

bers to scale or repudiate private obligations, which 
resulted in an unusual number of petty exemptions. In 
close connection with these resolutions were similar, 
though less vigorous, attacks upon the public debt. 6 
Efforts of conservative men, including some Radicals, 
secured recognition of the latter in the constitution. 7 
But between the policy of protecting a huge public debt 
and the policy of expensive and popular government 
there was, under the impoverished conditions prevailing, 
an incompatibility as striking as that between the old 
and the new elements of the convention. 

Had the Radicals been allowed to carry out the terms 
of this constitution, rampant democracy would unques- 
tionably have had full play for years to come, and one 
can only conjecture the extremes to which it would 
probably have gone. But by inserting clauses disfran- 
chising many ex-Confederates, 8 the convention alarmed 
and disgusted almost the entire white population, and, 
as the whites were in a decided majority, made possible 
the victory of moderate men. Two steps were taken in 
reaching this end. 

The first to move were the extreme men of the old 
school. Confronted with the probable loss not only of 
their political power and their private property but also 
of their highly prized civilization, and fearful of "Afri- 
canization" and " Yankeeizing, " 9 they determined to 
defeat the constitution at the polls even though they 

6 The printed journals are incomplete and unindexed. See, however, 
pp. 150, 442-444, 519, 705. 

" Thorpe, VII, 3894-3895. This was contrary to the general rule in the 
new constitutions of the Southern states, Dunning, Reconstruction, p. 207. 

s Thorpe, VII, 3876. The "test oath" {ibid., 3877) would have excluded 
all ex-Confederates from office. 

9 This feeling is vividly expressed in private correspondence of the time, 
see Euffner Papers; Memoirs of Gov. William Smith; T. J. Johnson, Robert 
E. Dabney. 



20 READJUSTER MOVEMENT IN VIRGINIA 

knew that this would probably mean a long continuation 
of military rule. Meeting in state conventions domi- 
nated by two or three ante-bellum leaders, they planned 
a complete organization under the name " Conserva- 
tive," and nominated a state ticket. 10 Their success 
would ultimately have meant no extravagance, no cor- 
ruption, and no repudiation ; no democratic local govern- 
ment and no concentration of power in the legislature; 
no common schools, no extensive public charities; no 
jury service or office-holding for the negroes. An aris- 
tocratic and individualistic society, with as little govern- 
mental activity as possible and that little directed by the 
fittest, was the remedy for the distempers of the times 
thus boldly prescribed a second time by " Bourbons.' m 
To avoid the dilemma of negro rule on one side or 
military rule on the other, a "new movement" was 
begun. Before the elections for the constitutional con- 
vention, many substantial citizens, aided by the ardent 
pro-Southern Whig, had already given strong evidence 
of their desire to "co-operate" with the Republican 
party for the restoration of the state to the Union on 
the basis of universal suffrage and equal civil and 
political rights. The movement, however, lacked dis- 
tinctive leadership and died almost still-born. 12 After 
the convention and the Republican victory in the elec- 
tion of 1868, the idea revived in the form of an agree- 

10 Dispatch and Whig, December 12, 13, 1867; May 7, 8, 1868. Col. E. E. 
Withers was nominated for governor. Kaleigh T. Daniel, John B. Baldwin, 
and A. H. H. Stuart were leaders. Their dominance was, of course, due 
to the crisis and the trust imposed in them. It was exercised largely 
through a ' ' committee on business, ' ' named by the chairman, which shaped 
all matters before the convention, including party organization. Cf. below, 
pp. 39, 49. 

ii Though the term "Bourbon" was little used until later, it will be 
employed here to designate the ultra-conservatives and their ideas. We 
should remember that many changed their views soon after this. 

12 Eckenrode, Political Reconstruction, ch. 5. 



RADICALISM, 1867-1869 21 

ment between groups of moderate leaders in both 
parties, heartily supported by the Whig, for the adop- 
tion of the constitution without the disfranchising 
clause, and the election of respectable Republican state 
officials and a moderate legislature. 13 Having obtained 
permission, through the favor of President Grant, to 
vote for the constitution without the objectionable clause, 
these men next induced the "True Republican" faction 14 
to endorse their plan and nominate for governor Gilbert 
C. Walker, a carpet-bagger Republican, but a moderate 
and intelligent man, strongly connected in Congressional 
circles. Though many Bourbons objected bitterly to this 
procedure, all of them yielded to its manifest advantages 
(some perhaps with mental reservations), 15 and with- 
drew their candidate. 16 Thereupon the masses of the 
whites rallied under the old name, " Conservative, " in 
support of the movement. In this way originated the 
Conservative party of the future. 

The significance of these events lay, undoubtedly, in 
the preference of the white masses for moderation 
instead of for Radicalism or Bourbonism. Pregnant 

is For full narrative accounts see A Narrative of the Leading Incidents, 
etc., by A. H. H. Stuart, who is credited by Eckenrode (Political Recon- 
struction, eh. 7 ) with having initiated the move ; ' ' New Virginia, ' ' in Whig, 
February 4, 1885; and Frank G. Euffin in Dispatch, October 30, 1880, 
emphasizing Mahone's share. For national interest and approval see New 
York Herald, January 3, 16 ; April 8, 29 ; New York Times, April 9, 1869. 

i* Cf. Ehodes, History of the United States since 1850, VI, 304. Mr. 
Ehodes's quotation cannot be applied to this faction in Virginia. 

is Enquirer, passim; E. E. Withers, Autobiography of an Octogenarian, 
pp. 275 ff . ; Memoirs of Gov. William Smith, pp. 263, 269, 276. The follow- 
ing ironic telegram (New York Times, July 8, 1869) to President Grant 
from E. T. Daniel excited mirth among Eichmond Bourbons : " I congratu- 
late you upon the triumph of your policy in Virginia. The gratitude of 
the people for your liberality is greatly enlivened by the overwhelming 
majority by which that policy prevails." 

is At a meeting of the old Conservative central committee and county 
"superintendents," Annual Cyc, 1869. 



22 READJUSTEE MOVEMENT IN VIRGINIA 

with meaning for the future, also, and of no little imme- 
diate importance, was the fact that the most efficient 
of the new leaders were city men and represented large 
business interests. Thus, Walker, at this time a banker 
of Norfolk, was interested in Virginia bonds. Franklin 
Stearns, a Republican who had been considered for the 
gubernatorial nomination, appears to have been closely 
associated with large railroad interests centering in 
Richmond, with which the management of the Dispatch, 
likewise a supporter of the movement, was also soon 
associated. Though attracting little public notice, none 
was more active than Gen. William Mahone, president 
of the Atlantic, Mississippi and Ohio Railroad. To him 
and to his numerous correspondents the success of 
Walker meant the success of "consolidation," for the 
nominees of both the Radicals and the Bourbons were 
bitterly hostile to his plans. 17 

Despite the concessions of the whites, the negroes 
voted by a very large majority for the Radical candidate 
and disfranchisement. None the less, the "new move- 
ment" won an easy victory. Under the deft guidance 
of Walker and his advisers 18 and with pledges to abide 

it Below, p. 27. Col. R. E. Withers, the Bourbon nominee, was closely 
associated with the extreme Lynchburg opposition to Mahone 's control of 
the Va. & Tenn., Withers, Autobiography, pp. 242 ff. Governor Wells, the 
Eadical nominee, had tried to sell this road to the B. & O. Railroad (Ecken- 
rode, Political Reconstruction, p. 117) and he appears to have received 
B. & O. support during this campaign. Among those who assisted Mahone 
were : J. F. Slaughter, of Lynchburg ; Geo. W. Boiling, of Petersburg ; V. D. 
Groner and R. H. Glass, of Norfolk, Robert M. Hughes, of Abingdon. See 
also letters of John W. Johnston, G. K. Gilmer, of Richmond; H. W. 
Holliday, and ex-Governor Peirpoint, Mahone Papers. Walker's influence 
over Grant appears to have been exercised through "Chandler." James 
Barbour, brother of the president of the Orange & Alexandria Railroad, 
and Robert Ould, who represented Richmond's interests in the Canal, both 
competitors of the A. M. & O., opposed the move. 

is Whig, October 10, 12; Dispatch, October 2, 8, 1869; Eckenrode, 
Political Reconstruction, p. 126. 



EADICALISM, 1867-1869 23 

by the essentially democratic features of the expur- 
gated constitution, 19 Virginia returned finally and fully 
to the Union in January, 1870. 

We have seen, then, that the reconstruction constitu- 
tion was framed by adventurers in the interests of the 
"mud sills of society." It sought to create complete 
equality by such devices as manhood suffrage and jury 
service, numerous elective local offices, taxation accord- 
ing to wealth, and state support of common schools and 
charities. The sponsor for these ideas was the Eadical, 
or Republican, party, but they were also accepted as a 
matter of expediency by a new party, called l ' Conserva- 
tive," and supported by the bulk of the whites. "Bour- 
bons," that is, advocates of the old-time policies, opposed 
this course. While insisting upon these democratic ideas, 
some Radicals of the constitutional convention endeav- 
ored to scale both public and private debts, but without 
success. Ratification of the new constitution was accom- 
plished through the combination of the Conservatives 
with a wing of the Republican party. This combination 
was effected by city capitalistic leaders, and to it (and 
them) was entrusted the inauguration of the new 
regime. 

is Code of 1870, preface. These included suffrage and public education. 
Cf. Dunning, Essays on Civil War and Reconstruction, pp. 347 ff. 



CHAPTER III 
"RESTORATION OF CREDIT," 1870-1871 

"When the first legislature of reconstructed Virginia 
met in January, 1870, twenty-seven negroes had seats. 
The absence of well-known faces was marked — acts of 
Congress and the exigencies of the campaign had kept 
them at home. Men said — some with obvious effort — 
that it was perhaps well; for the young men and new 
men could more easily forget the past and face the 
pressing problems which war and reconstruction had 
created or complicated. 1 

Chief among these problems was the serious economic 
and fiscal situation. The state debt now amounted to 
over $45,000,000 2 — $36 for each person, $62 for each 
white. Transition from the old to the new transporta- 
tion policy awaited completion; meantime the state's 
assets paid little dividend and commerce was hampered. 
There were, however, some signs of improvement. Small 
farms for the landless were beginning to be created from 
the great estates; men unaccustomed to work were 
putting their hands literally to the plow; in some parts 

^Dispatch, Whig, Enquirer, October 5-12, 1869. Cf. Mayes, L. Q. C. 
Lamar, p. 131. This legislature had in the fall of 1869 completed the 
reconstruction process. Its composition was: Senate, 30 Conservatives and 
13 Eadicals (6 negroes); House, 95 Conservatives (3 negroes) and 42 
Eadicals (18 negroes), Annual Cyc., 1869. 

2 Under the act of March 2, 1866, "a large proportion" of interest 
accrued by January 1, 1867, had been funded. Under act of March 21, 
1867 (above, pp. 10, 11) four per cent interest had been paid in 1867 and 
two per cent in 1869. Between these dates the taxes were not fully 
collected and government expenses were high, Governor, Message, March 
8, 1870. 



"RESTORATION OF CREDIT" 25 

old industries were taking on new life — truck-farming, 
for example, in the Norfolk region, the tonging and 
planting of oysters in the Chesapeake's tributaries, and 
cattle-raising in the southwest. 3 Favored by this activ- 
ity and by immigration from the north and from other 
parts of the state, seventeen counties and all the cities 
but two showed greater realty values than in I860. 4 
The masses of the people appeared cheerful, glad, for 
all the changes, to be back at peaceful work again. 5 But 
the "good times" immediately succeeding the war had 
already begun to pass away. 6 Protected against old 
debts by stay laws, men had created a fictitious pros- 
perity by making new loans, often at usurious rates. 
Now stay laws were unconstitutional, but the debts 
remained. The Richmond Enquirer gravely argued 
that "reason and true statesmanship dictate a compul- 
sory scale of 'ante bellum' private debt from its appar- 
ent to its true value," and public meetings endorsed the 
suggestion. 7 Prices of farm products were declining 

3 ' ' Personal Recollections. ' ' 

4 The basis of these estimates is the assessed values of 1860 (being 
the figures of 1856 corrected in 1860) and of 1870. Petersburg and 
Fredericksburg showed losses. Auditor, Report, 1871. 

s Ibid.; tone of the press; "Personal Recollections ' ' ; Buffiier Papers; 
Johnson, Dabney. 

e Tobacco production was 123,968,000 pounds in 1860, 114,480,000 in 
1866, 43,761,000 in 1870. This decrease was coincident with a heavy fed- 
eral tax, Arnold, Tobacco Industry, ch. 2. The price of bright tobacco, 
very high in 1865-1867, decreased thereafter, while the corn and pork 
imported by the planters were high, Whig, March 8, December 8, 1870. In 
non-tobacco growing sections the high price of corn was offset by the low 
price of wheat, ibid., March 8, 17. There had been a succession of disas- 
trous floods in the James and Shenandoah valleys; also droughts. Annual 
Cyc, 1865-1870; Governor, Message, December 7, 1870. For negro exodus 
see Enquirer, February 17; March 19 to 25; Whig, April 20, 1870; for 
transition to town, P. A. Bruce, Bise of the New South, eh. 30; for the 
optimistic view of an intelligent English tourist, Robert Somers, The 
Southern States Since the War. Cf. State Grange, Proceedings, 1874. 

" Thorpe, VII, 3896; Enquirer, February 17, March 19, 1870. 



26 READJUSTEE MOVEMENT IN VIRGINIA 

and production was increasing but slowly, sometimes 
actually decreasing. Negro laborers were leaving or 
talking of leaving, and even though they remained, land 
in most regions had not yet become profitable. In each 
of seventy-four counties, not including cities, realty 
values were distinctly smaller than in 1860, their shrink- 
age totalling probably over $10,000,000. 8 

To meet this situation, Governor Walker urged 9 a 
"restoration of credit" policy. Let the entire $45,000,- 
000 of debt, he said, be funded into uniform coupon 
bonds bearing the same rate of interest as the old, the 
coupons being declared on their face receivable for 
taxes and other public dues. Complete the exchange of 
the state's interest in public works for state bonds. 
Curtail expenses. Tax all property at its true value, 10 
and reach out for other sources of revenue possible under 
the new constitution. The honor of the state would thus 
be preserved and its credit restored. Then grant liberal 
franchises under general laws, unhamper the private 
interest rate and, while making concessions in the case 
of old debts, secure the creditor by "prompt and effect- 
ive remedies for the enforcement of his rights. ' ' Private 
credit, as the basis of individual prosperity, would 
follow. 

The spirit in which these recommendations were 
made — its extravagant optimism 11 and its sympathetic 
appreciation of state pride — received from the press the 

8 Assessed realty values for the entire state showed a loss of some fifteen 
millions, or about five per cent (currency) ; but the cities and favored 
counties showed an increase of nineteen millions. 
|» Message, March 8, 1870; December 6, 1871. 

io This he assumed to be the same as the ' ' true value ' ' given by the 
census of 1860. 

ii For example : ' ' We have a canal which, when completed, will prove as 
valuable an adjunct to commerce as the far-famed Suez Canal. ... A 
Southern Pacific railroad has been projected with its eastern termiuus at 
Norfolk, and I doubt not it will be built. ' ' 



"RESTORATION OF CREDIT" 27 

heartiest commendation and helped to conciliate or 
silence elements hitherto in opposition. 12 The legisla- 
ture responded readily. It provided for the funding of 
the debt, adopted a liberal railroad policy, and enacted a 
tax law of greater reach than any heretofore passed. It 
took the first step toward repealing the constitutional 
restriction of the contractual private interest rate to 
twelve per cent. 13 It gave liberal interpretation to the 
exemption provisions of the constitution, especially as 
regards private debts contracted prior to the end of the 
war. 14 It left no room for a Radical reaction or inter- 
ference of the federal government, for it set in motion 
the local government machinery, enacted laws for the 
protection of suffrage, and created an elaborate and 
up-to-date public school system. 15 Because of their 
future bearings, the first two of these acts require more 
extended notice. 

Among the railroad acts of the legislature of 1865- 
1867 was one permitting Gen. William Mahone and 
others to merge, under careful restrictions, the manage- 
ments of the three lines from Norfolk to Bristol and to 
build extensions with a view to connecting eventually 
the seaboard with the Mississippi and the Ohio. This 
was the Atlantic, Mississippi and Ohio Railroad. This 
plan, however, had met with opposition, both from those 
who Opposed consolidation on theoretical grounds and 
from those with conflicting business interests. As had 
been expected from the alignment of forces in 1869, 
Mahone at first received the co-operation of Governor 
Walker in forcing through the legislature, with the aid 
of the Republican vote, an act granting the A. M. & O. 

12 Whig, Dispatch, Enquirer, and citations in each, March 9-11, December 
8, 9, 1870; above, p. 21. 
is Acts, 1869-1870, p. 19. 
i* Act of June 27, 1870. 
is Act of July 11, 1870; below, p. 60. 



28 READJUSTER MOVEMENT IN VIRGINIA 

valuable privileges and completely crushing the opposi- 
tion within the consolidating roads. 16 Others, appar- 
ently with Mahone's assistance, received similar char- 
ters. 17 But these acts were soon seen to be only a part 
of the governor's "free railroad" policy. "Wherever," 
he said in his next annual message, 18 "a railroad, or a 
canal, or a transportation company, is needed, and people 
can be found who will invest the necessary capital, let 
the enterprise be organized and completed." Since this 
policy involved the sale of such of the state's assets as 
had not already been disposed of, a bill to that effect was 
introduced. But Mahone, deeming the policy dangerous 
to A. M. & 0. interests, fought it. The Enquirer, which 
had recently been purchased by the Pennsylvania Cen- 
tral Railroad and reorganized under Richmond business 
men and politicians for the acknowledged purpose of 
advocating "Free Railroads" and the "maintenance of 
public and private credit of the state," 19 urged the bill's 

is Act of June 17, 1870; Enquirer, March 3, 16, 18, 20, 1871. The 
state's interest might be bought by the consolidated road for $4,000,000 in 
state bonds at par, payable in installments beginning January 1, 1885. 
The security for the purchase should be a mortgage on the consolidated 
road second to a first mortgage of $15,000,000. The proceeds of the latter 
were to be used for building an extension through Cumberland Gap and for 
certain minor purposes. To the opposition above noted (p. 22) had now 
been added certain Eichmond men, who were interested in an air -line from 
Eichmond to Lynchburg, and the East Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia 
Eailroad represented by John B. Baldwin. 

it Acts of July 11, 1870 (Eichmond and Danville) ; March 24 (Chesa- 
peake and Ohio); January 14, March 28, 31 (Orange and Alexandria), 
1871. Mahone appears to have reached an agreement with the Baltimore 
and Ohio interests, which were closely connected with the Orange and 
Alexandria, Letter of W. W. Wood, November 16, 1871, Mahone Papers. 

is December 7, 1870. 

19 Enquirer, March 21; Whig, November 10, 1871. The Enquirer made 
no denial of the Whig's charge, "Are not six-sevenths of the Enquirer 
stock held in Pennsylvania!" Probably Governor Walker's political inter- 
ests were to be looked after by the Enquirer in return for his support; 
certainly he had some close connection with the Enquirer's management in 



"RESTORATION OF CREDIT" 29 

passage. So did the Dispatch, the owner of which was 
an interested party. 20 Opposing it was the Whig, whose 
traditional attitude was to fight outside control and the 
diversion of trade from Virginia centers, and which, 
through A. M. & 0. patronage, was gradually passing 
under Mahone's control. 21 Each side maintained an 
extensive lobby — an agency scarcely known before in 
Virginia, and each had legislators avowedly in its pay. 22 
In the melee Mahone lost the negro vote and the bill was 
passed. 23 

Meanwhile there had come from the joint committee 
on finance a bill for funding the state debt, afterwards 
commoiily known as "the Funding Act." It was the 
governor's bill in every point 24 save that interest-bearing 

1874, Walker to Ruffner, September 4, Euffner Papers, December 31, 1883. 
The State reprinted from the Chicago Tribune a letter of C. P. Huntington 
in which he spoke of Walker as "a slippery fellow, and I rather think in 
Scott's interest." See also letters of R. F. Walker (1872), in Mahone 
Papers. 

20 Act of March 28, 1871. The short lines from Washington south 
through Richmond were the main bone of contention. Some were primarily 
interested in the Carolina trade (Dispatch, March 10, 1871); others, in a 
trunk line north and south. 

2i Mahone appears to have negotiated for the purchase of the Whig in 
1868 without success; yet from that year records of its business were regu- 
larly sent him. The Whig's editor asserted (March 4, 1872) that his views 
were reached independently and in ignorance of Mahone's. A total of 
$77,200 was paid the Whig by the A. M. & O., Dispatch, October 11, 1879. 

22 John Goode, Jr., represented Mahone (Dispatch, February 10, 1870; 
New Virginia, in Whig, January 3, 1885), but the charge that he was in 
the pay of Mahone is based on insufficient evidence; Walter Taylor and 
A. B. Cochran, the Pennsylvania interests (Enquirer, November 4, 1871) ; 
Gen. Bradley T. Johnson (who was not at this time in the legislature), 
John Lyons, and John W. Jenkins, a Radical lawyer of Richmond, the 
Richmond interests (Dispatch, February 15, 1872). The A. M. & O. paid 
$13,900 apparently for lobbying in addition to sums paid the Whig, op. cit., 
1879. 

23 Act of March 28, 1871. For convenient later account of the whole 
affair see Dispatch, June 16, 27; August 7, 8, 1877. The contemporary 
papers are full of it. 

24 Above; also speech of Walker, in Dispatch, October 3, 1877. 



30 EEADJUSTER MOVEMENT IN VIRGINIA 

coupons instead of bonds were to be issued for one-third 
of the debt, for which " payment . . . will be provided 
in accordance with such settlements as shall hereafter 
be made between the states of Virginia and West 
Virginia." 25 Obsessed by a sense of obligation to the 
governor, overwhelmed by other duties, and involved in 
the railroad war, legislators could give to this bill no 
adequate study. Nor did they receive light from public 
discussion. The Dispatch and General Mahone kept 
discreetly silent. The Enquirer, indeed, favored the bill, 
and the Whig opposed it; but their arguments were 
clouded with references to each other's railroad and 
political intentions, and weakened by their complete 
reversal of opinion within four months. 26 At the very 
close of the session, having previously passed the Senate, 
this measure was railroaded through the House, receiv- 
ing the votes of just half of the Conservatives and all 
of the Republicans but one. 27 

Thus the "restoration of credit" policy, balanced 
against and protected by a careful observance of the 
democratic ideas of the constitution, was enacted into 
law. Under its operation important business connections 
were formed with the North in which men of all shades 
of political opinion participated, and before these illib- 
eralism of all kinds was certain to give way. Almost 
the entire state press 28 and the outside world endorsed 
the policy as economically correct. Yet several consid- 

25 In the opinion of Mr. Septimus Hall (previously quoted) Walker and 
the railroad interests blocked a settlement with West Virginia lest the latter 
demand a share of Virginia 's assets and so delay railroad consolidation ; and 
the opinion became fixed in West Virginia that no settlement would ever 
be demanded. 

26 Compare editorials in December, 1870, with those of March, 1871. 

27 Act of March 30, 1871; contemporary Whig, Dispatch, Enquirer; 
Ruffin, Facts, etc.; Journals of both houses, March, 1871. John W. 
Daniel and James Stubbs protested vigorously against the procedure. 

28 Whig, January 9, 1873. 



"RESTORATION OF CREDIT" 31 

erations might well have given pause to the men behind 
this policy. 

(1) The state's most valuable fiscal assets had been 
contracted away upon terms that were inadequate if 
the grantee prospered, insecure if he did not prosper. 
No special privileges of the old railroads, such as 
exemption from taxation, proper enough under the 
former system, had been surrendered. No provision for 
control over transportation to take the place of the old 
method had been made. Such defects invited, if they 
did not compel, railroad control over the legislature. 

(2) It was questionable, at least, whether the fiscal 
obligations imposed by the Funding Act could be met 
by the state if that act were accepted by all creditors. 
The interest on the new debt principal would just about 
equal the estimated revenue under the new tax law less 
the minimum appropriated by the constitution for public 
education, leaving nothing for government expenses 
which the auditor estimated 29 at over one million dollars. 
Nor was there any obvious remedy for this situation. 
The debt-principal was indeed reducible by sale of the 
state's railroad assets; but the amount receivable in the 
near future from this source had been rendered almost 
negligible by the acts noted above. 30 Expenses could 
be reduced only by undoing the democratic features of 
the constitution just put into effect; but at best this 
would require years. Any considerable increase in 
revenue depended upon economic improvement, which 
could come only gradually, or upon the always slow 
process of finding new subjects and new methods of 
taxation. Meantime the annual deficit would be accumu- 

29 Report, 1871. 

so In 1874 only $3,400,000 had been received, Sen. Jour., 1874-1875, 
Doe. 1. Walker's estimate (op. cit.) was $2,600,000 "immediately," and 
$10,000,000 more remotely, available. 



32 READJUSTER MOVEMENT IN VIRGINIA 

lating so as to impair or destroy the efficiency of these 
proposed remedies. 

(3) The "restoration of credit" policy did not rest 
upon a well-advised popular will. The legislature had 
been elected when the main issues were not fiscal. The 
true fiscal condition had not been made clear by the 
governor or by the press. While some legislators had 
voted from conviction for the funding and railroad acts, 31 
those acts, the very backbone of the governor's policy, 
could scarcely have been passed without the combination 
of interests and the skill of lobbyists. The governor 
himself was known to be financially interested, directly 
or indirectly, in state bonds. 32 Men said, and no one 
took the trouble to deny the rumor, that the negroes had 
been bought. 32 It was not at all clear that the people 
would approve the funding of $13,000,000 of interest 
accruing mainly during war and reconstruction days 
and part of it compounded, and it would not be sufficient 
to say that this was offset by the release of Virginia 
from one-third of the whole debt ($16,000,000) ; for this 
one-third was generally considered West Virginia's fair 
proportion, and from this Virginia was already released 
in law and in equity. 34 Nor was it clear that in the clash 
bound to come between the schools and the debt, the 
people would side with the latter. 

(4) Factions within Conservative ranks and a ten- 

3i Among the affirmative voters were A. B. Courtney, Charles Herndon, 
Daniel A. Grimsley, Meriwether Lewis, Wm. A. Anderson, George Walker, 
John A. McCaul, and M. Hanger. 

32 Enquirer, December 22, 1871 ; Massey, Autobiography, pp. 44 ff. 

33 For evidence see House Jour., 1871-1872, pp. 31, 137, 297 ff.; Whig, 
Enquirer, Dispatch, February 14-20, 1872. 

34 C. U. Williams, Present Financial Status of Virginia; above, pp. 9-11 
and note 38; Enquirer, March 28; Whig, March 18, 1871. It was thought 
at the time that, despite the previous refusal of West Virginia to treat, her 
new officials, being Democrats, would do so, Governor, Message, December 
7, 1870, House Docs., 1869-1870, Nos. 17 and 20. 



"RESTORATION OF CREDIT" 33 

dency toward demagogy were already appearing. The 
men of southwestern Virginia were almost solid against 
the Funding Act ; and some of them were using language 
which questioned the validity of the debt. 35 Mahone's 
railroad supporters were strong and active men and 
Mahone himself was deemed a skilful and unscrupulous 
leader. 36 Against them were arrayed the governor and 
the interests represented by the Enquirer and the 
Dispatch, to which the Bourbon element was already 
allying itself. Already the Whig was seeking to array 
the masses against its enemies. "Are they not," it said, 
"working for Cameron and Scott and McClure . . . the 
Radical leaders of Philadelphia? . . . The demoralizing 
effects of Virginia gentlemen chaffing and bargaining 
with Radical adventurers are deplorable in the extreme. 
Colonel this, and Major that, and Mr. Somebody else, are 
seen hobnobbing with union leaguers from Pennsylvania, 
and aiding them in obtaining the most valuable fran- 
chises in the state ..." Already, too, the Whig was 
predicting, no doubt unconsciously, its own future 
course: "Suppose this . . . [the Funding bill] becomes 
a law by appliances which stock-jobbers so well under- 
stand, . . . will the iniquity be patiently endured? Will 
it not give a handle to demagogues to agitate for repu- 
diation of the whole ? ' m 

To sum up : The legislature, elected under the circum- 
stances narrated in the preceding chapter, endeavored 
to give effect to the democratic ideas embodied in the 
new constitution. At the same time, influenced by city 

35 See resolution of Colonel Pendleton in Whig, December 12, 1870. 

36 The Enquirer (November 4, 1871) charged that John F. Lewis, 
Eepublican, had been elected to the United States Senate through the 
coalition of the A. M. & O. and the Old Dominion Steamship Company; 
this appears probable, Letter of G-. E. Gilmer, September 14, 1869, in 
MaJione Papers. 

37 March 18; November 2, 1871. 



34 READJUSTEE MOVEMENT IN VIRGINIA 

capitalistic interests and with the expectation of restor- 
ing public, and thereby private, credit, it adopted a 
"free" railroad policy and enacted "the Funding Act." 
Under the former, control as well as ownership of the 
railroads passed, or would pass, almost entirely into 
private hands. Under the Funding Act, the annual debt 
interest, collectable through tax-receivable coupons, 
almost equalled the entire revenue of the state. Accom- 
panying results were a bitter railroad war in the legis- 
lature and a cry that the interests of the people had been 
sold out. 



CHAPTER IV 
REACTION, AND THE COURTS, 1871-1873 

The legislation described in the previous chapter came 
before the people for review in the summer and fall of 
1871. Since the scope of the referendum was limited 
by peculiar political conditions which continued to 
dominate public policies for several years, we must note 
here the development of party politics since the election 
of 1869. 

It had by no means appeared certain to party leaders 
in the early months of 1870 just what the lines and 
policies of the future would be or which party would 
prevail. 1 Hitherto the strength of the Radicals had been 
the negro vote, but now men hoped, and sometimes 
seemed to expect, that the negroes, won to reason by 
fair treatment in their homes and in the legislature, 
would see that their interest could be best subserved 
by dividing their vote. 2 Instead of assuming the Repub- 
lican leadership, Governor Walker had just declared his 
independence of all parties. 3 The older Republican 

i Cf. Dispatch, July 11 (quoting Walker in New York World) ; also, 
October 22, 1869. 

2 Whig, July 5, 6 ; Dispatch, July 2, 3 ; Enquirer, July 1, 2, November 25, 
1869. For recognition of the common interests of the races see Whig, 
July 7, 12; Dispatch, July 9, 1869. Walker thought one-fifth had voted 
Conservative in 1869, and that in two years one-half would be Conservatives, 
op. cit. The Enquirer believed the negro was rapidly learning his political 
interests. Amicable relations in the legislature are shown in Whig, January 
6, 19, 20, 23, 1871 — two negroes sitting "with their political associates, 
the Conservatives." Ku Klux operations (at no time severe) ceased in 
1868, Sen. Eeports, 42 Cong., 2 sess., no. 41, Pt. 1, p. 92. 

3 Message, February 8, 1870. 



36 EEADJUSTER MOVEMENT IN VIRGINIA 

leaders had been discredited by defeat and the virtual 
abandonment of their policy by the federal administra- 
tion. Hence, among the Republicans factions had devel- 
oped, which warred with each other over the spoils and 
the treatment of ex-Confederates. On the other hand, 
the Conservative party, which had sprung into exist- 
ence for a specific purpose, now achieved, had never 
received formal and authoritative organization. The 
future co-operation of ex- Whigs with ex-Democrats and 
of Bourbons with liberals was not assured. 4 West of the 
mountains the whites were in such overwhelming major- 
ity that they could not be expected to appreciate the 
problems of the "East"; and the reverse was also true. 
Meantime, from across the northern border was coming 
a call, to which some had already listened, 5 for men of 
ability and good standing to align themselves with the 
party which controlled national policies and distributed 
the national patronage. 

Such a chaotic condition of parties gave to the Con- 
gressional campaign of 1870 a state-wide interest and 
importance. Early in the year the Richmond State 
Journal began, with the approval of Washington, a 
movement for a state convention which should rescue 
the Republican party from factional fights and give it 
leaders and policies less closely associated with events 
of the last four years. The movement was successful 
and the convention met in Richmond in September. 6 
Though deploring the facility with which "our whilom 
true Republicans in office have forgotten and abjured 

* Above, p. 20; Enquirer, November 25, 26, 1869; March 14, April 15, 
16, 1871; Whig, August 11, 1869; January 13, 17, 1871. 

s Examples are : Gen. W. C. Wickham, vice-president of the Chesapeake 
and Ohio Kailway; Eobert W. Hughes (below); Z. Turner, speaker of the 
House; Alex. Eives, federal district judge. General Mahone and the Whig 
were continually under suspicion. 

« Enquirer, February 7, March 14, April 15, 16, 1870. 



REACTION, AND THE COURTS 37 

their pledges to Gen. Grant and Congress" and though 
condemning Conservatism as a "contrivance to avoid 
the issues between the two great parties," this conven- 
tion formally abandoned the party's past policy of 
"proscription and hate" by pledging a "conciliatory 
policy" in the selection of local officers and silence as to 
the test oath; while the platform's emphasis upon pub- 
lic education connected the party closely with what was 
best in its reconstruction work. 7 

To meet this move, leaders of ante-bellum Democracy 
urged that the Conservatives adopt a clear-cut and 
vigorous policy. 8 The non-partisan plan of 1869, they 
said, was operating as a cloak for time-serving Repub- 
licans and Independents. Therefore a state convention 
should be called which should draw strict party lines, 
affiliate with the national Democracy, and "fire the 
hearts" of the white people. But the outspoken sus- 
picion of old Whigs and the widespread fear of renewed 
federal interference upon the slightest provocation 
counselled caution. Accordingly no convention was 
called and no drawing of lines or statement of policies 
was attempted. Instead, those moderate men who had 
been elected to the legislature the year previous under 
the name of Conservatives met in caucus and, with the 
assistance of certain prominent Richmond sympathizers, 
appointed a new central committee. Through this com- 
mittee, effective control of which was cautiously centered 
in Richmond, an address was issued. Ignoring national 
matters save for a suggestion as to economic relief, this 
address put forward home rule by the fittest as the para- 

TWhig, Enquirer, Dispatch, September 27, 28, 1870; Dunning, Essays, 
pp. 233 ff. Grant was popular in the state on account of his attitude at 
Appomattox and in 1869. 

8 E.g., the Lynchburg News, the Tenth Legion Banner, and the Enquirer. 



38 READJUSTEE MOVEMENT IN VIRGINIA 

mount issue, and on this platform invited and urged the 
co-operation of all. 

At the ensuing elections, however, the liberal profes- 
sions of neither party availed it anything. The whites 
voted mainly for Conservative candidates, but without 
enthusiasm; the negroes remained almost solidly Radi- 
cal. The Radicals won eight of the eleven Congress- 
men, the Conservatives had a majority of 2,239 in the 
state as a whole. 9 

The indecisiveness of this campaign and the fact that 
state issues had not been directly involved left the prob- 
lem of party lines and policies still an open one in the 
early months of 1871. Nor did the adjournment of the 
legislature clarify the situation, for on each of the two 
chief issues 10 before that body the Conservatives had 
divided about equally, while the Republicans had, as a 
whole, supported each side of both questions in turn. 
Hence, at the ensuing elections for local officials, men 
who claimed to be Conservatives ran independently in 
some places and received support from the negroes. 
Soon the Conservative central committee perceived its 
authority "measurably impaired" and the party itself 
"in the throes of distraction." Likewise, the Repub- 
licans were again divided into factions, carpet-baggers, 
backed by the bulk of the negroes, again insisting that 
Republican Congressmen should control the distribution 
of the federal patronage, scalawags opposing this. 11 

Again, therefore, the demand went up for a Conserva- 
tive state convention. Not without misgivings, the 

a Annual Cyc, 1870; Enquirer, July 2, August 2, 5, October 7, November 
11, 18; Dispatch, July 2, 6, August 5; Whig, March 8, 17, July 2, 22 (con- 
taining the address), 1870. The party plan of organization was that 
drawn by John B. Baldwin and adopted in 1867 (above, p. 20) slightly 
amended by the caucus. 

io The railroad and the debt questions. 

ii Eeferences as in note 9. 



REACTION, AND THE COURTS 39 

central committee yielded, summoning the delegates to 
Richmond, where its own headquarters were, and fixing 
a late date for the meeting (August 30). The venture 
proved a complete success. The old leaders, whom dis- 
abilities or inclination had kept in the background for six 
years, now returned and were received Avith enthusiasm. 
This was an important event, for it marked the begin- 
ning of a Confederate reaction not only against Radical- 
ism but also against the compromising idea that had 
prevailed for two years. It was, indeed, the beginning 
of a "Confederate cult," the deep influence of which 
was to be felt in business and social life as well as in 
politics for many years to come. 12 By common consent, 
issues of the Civil War period and before were laid aside 
as "dead." There was no considerable expression of 
Bourbon opinion on democracy and the new constitu- 
tion. Despite some slight opposition on the ostensible 
ground that it would give the impression of outside 
dictation, an invitation to sit with the convention was 
extended to Governor Walker in appreciation of his ser- 
vices in 1869. Six negro delegates from Richmond were 
received with applause ; and though bluff General Early 
left in a rage, declaring that he had come thinking ' ' this 
was to be a convention of Virginia gentlemen — a white 
man's convention," the Richmond press enthusiastically 
described the event as "historical." As a concession to 
the representative principle, a resolution offered by 
H. H. Riddleberger, of the Valley, that' the "consulting" 
members of the central committee should be selected by 
the delegates from the several Congressional districts 
instead of by the convention president was adopted; 
but effective party direction was left concentrated in 
Richmond, and provision was made for bringing promi- 
nent local men into harmony with this management 

12 Cf. below, pp. 48, 109, 133. 



40 READJUSTER MOVEMENT IN VIRGINIA 

through local reorganization on a democratic basis. 
Sternly refusing to consider any other question the con- 
vention put before the people the single issue of the 
previous year: " Conservative or Radical control?" 13 

To meet the enthusiasm created by this move, the 
Republicans could only develop the policy adopted the 
year previous. By carefully packing their convention, 
and obtaining the personal attendance of Washington 
officials, and after a long secret conference of leaders, 
they were able to restore party harmony. Defeat of the 
carpet-bagger plan for controlling federal patronage 
manifested unmistakably the dominance of the liberal 
wing. Thus the way was prepared for co-operation in 
the coming national elections with the many whites who 
did not relish an alliance with the national Democratic 
party. To these, and to old Whigs especially, the plat- 
form extended a cordial and liberal invitation. In state 
matters, the party's special interest in public education 
prompted a serious enquiry whether the schools, espe- 
cially those for the negro, would be safe under continued 
Conservative control. With Conservatives in possession 
of the courts, the platform continued, the negro's con- 
stitutional right to serve on juries was unquestionably 
being destroyed; beyond doubt, the operation of the 
Funding Act would cause a doubling of taxes. 1 * 

The issue of the campaign that followed was the one 

13 Whig, July 20, 22, (address of state committee), 27; Dispatch, July 
23, August 19, 23; Enquirer, Dispatch, Whig, August 30, 31, September 1, 
1871. The change in the Enquirer's ownership had brought it into fairly 
close harmony with Governor Walker, above, p. 21. Ealeigh T. Daniel 
as party chairman named Eobert L. Montague president, and he appointed 
William Smith chairman of the committee on business, to which all impor- 
tant matters were referred. This arrangement was at once a recognition 
of old leaders and a necessary step in identifying the new Conservative 
party with the old (above, p. 20). 

i* Whig, January 13, 17; Dispatch, Enquirer, Whig, September 28, 29, 
1871. 



REACTION, AND THE COURTS 41 

stated by the Conservatives — "Conservative or Radical 
rule?" Inspired by the example of their old leaders, 
the great bulk of the whites voted for the Conservative 
candidates, and the negroes for the Republican candi- 
dates, each regardless of other issues. The Conserva- 
tives, consequently, won with an increased majority in 
both houses. 

The policy of the Conservatives, however, did not 
entirely prevent other issues from having weight; and 
herein lies a further characteristic of Virginia politics 
for several years to come. These issues were discussed 
and roughly decided by the Conservatives in each legis- 
lative district separately, and when the district was a 
close one, not only the regular Conservatives but also 
the doubtful and apathetic voters had weight. In this 
campaign such issues were: the public school and local 
government systems, the number and salary of legis- 
lators, the railroad policy, private interest rate, exemp- 
tion laws, and the Funding Act. How general the dis- 
cussion was can not be determined ; but that it was often 
vigorous may be inferred from the comment frequently 
made that the nature of these questions and the igno- 
i ranee of the voters rendered the local demagogue dan- 
, gerous. Particularly noteworthy were the arguments 
advanced against the Funding Act; That it had been 
passed by the corrupt influence of brokers and specu- 
lators; that before any assumption of obligation had 
been agreed to there should have been a settlement with 
West Virginia because the debt was "created by the 
whole state before any division of her territory or any 
destruction of her property in slaves"; and that it made 
"the taxes of the rich payable in coupons at far less than 
par value, while the poor . . . [would] be compelled to 
pay . . . dollar for dollar." Of course such a method 
of deciding important questions did not yield the definite 



42 READJUSTER MOVEMENT IN VIRGINIA 

and organized expression of popular will ordinarily 
obtained through political parties. Thus in the present 
instance only twenty-six of the one hundred and thirty- 
two members of the previous House were returned; but 
the exact reasons for the change and the intentions of 
the new members were not at all clear. 15 

To the legislature thus elected Governor Walker 
reasserted his fiscal views, December 6, 1871. Remind- 
ing the members that "asa legal proposition the inter- 
est on the funded debt must unquestionably be paid," he 
demanded, in substance, that three-fourths of the current 
revenue should be used for this purpose. Referring 
lightly to "what may be appropriated for school pur- 
poses," he suggested as a substitute for the constitu- 
tional appropriation a poll tax of two dollars, prepay- 
ment of which should be a suffrage requisite. The gov- 
ernor's belief was, plainly, that if the people wanted 
free schools, good roads, improved asylums, an agricul- 
tural department, and the like, they would submit to 
higher taxes. 16 

But the legislature forthwith voted, by a majority of 
119 to 33 in the two houses, that the operation of the 
Funding Act be suspended. This action was vetoed by 
the governor because it was contrary to sound public 
policy and discriminated against those who had not 
funded; and this reasoning prevailed with the Senate. 17 
Thereupon a bill prohibiting the receipt of coupons for 

is Cf. Whig, October 31, November 1, 10, 1871; January 2, 3, 1872; 
Enquirer, September 1, 18, November 6, 9, 1871; January 8, 1872; Dis- 
patch, March 8, 1872; December 19, 1873; Euffin, Facts; C. U. Williams, 
Present Financial Status; C. T. O'Ferrall, Forty Years of Active Service, 
pp. 194 ff.; Memoirs of Governor William Smith, p. 276; Annual Cyc, 1871. 
Kichmond Conservatives nominated and elected representatives of the Ger- 
man and Irish elements, Dispatch, Whig, September 27, 1871. 

io Governor, Message, December 6, 1871; Auditor, Beport, 1871. Cf. 
pp. 26, 29. 

it Sen. Jour., 1871-1872, pp. 88, 111; acts in force March 7, 19, 1872. 



REACTION, AND THE COURTS 43 

taxes was passed, notwithstanding the veto, and the pay- 
ment of four per cent interest on the whole debt recog- 
nized as Virginia's was ordered. But the state supreme 
court, early in the next legislative session, declared 
by a vote of three to one that the state must receive for 
taxes the coupons of all bonds issued under the Funding 
Act prior to the attempted prohibition because they con- 
stituted a contract between the holder and the state. 18 
Under this decision a preferred class of bonds, soon 
known as "consols," was created to the amount of some 
twenty millions, or about two-thirds of the whole. The 
legislature deemed it impracticable — as, indeed, it was — 
to remedy this discrimination against "peelers" 19 by 
making the interest on them also receivable in payment 
for taxes, and the holders of consols refused to sur- 
render their privileged position. 20 The governor sug- 
gested, and the legislature adopted, a joint resolution 
petitioning the federal government to assume the whole 
debt; but the only result of this was a temporary rise 
in the bond market. 21 

In other respects, also, the legislature pursued a course 

is Antoni v. Wright, 22 Grattan, 833, December 13, 1872. Judge Staples 
dissented. 

19 Strictly this term applied only to bonds issued between the passage of 
the prohibiting act and the court's decision; but it will be used for all 
bonds other than consols. 

20 Under the initiative of the legislature a conference with creditors was 
attempted; but its only result was a demonstration of bad feeling between 
legislature and creditors, Enquirer, February 19, 21, 22, 1873. 

21 Sen. Jour., 1872-1873, December 16; joint resolution of March 26, 
1873; Whig, Dispatch, Enquirer, February 18, 1873, and quotations in Whig 
showing division of press. For New York opinion of the stock- jobbing 
nature of the proposal see Whig, February 12, 1873, quoting New York 
Advertiser. Henry A. Wise had favored such a petition by Virginia, West 
Virginia, and the creditors jointly (B. H. Wise, Henry A. Wise, p. 397), 
and Governor Kemper (Message, January 1, 1874), endorsed it on the 
ground of duty incident to the war. But the plan never had influence other 
than that indicated above. 



44 READJUSTEE MOVEMENT IN VIRGINIA 

quite antagonistic to the restoration of credit policy. It 
taxed state bonds on the theory that they were private 
property; it ordered an investigation of the passage 
of the Funding Act ; 22 it pnt bonds held by the colleges in 
a specially favored class ; 23 and established, in the inter- 
est of farmers and local politicians, the Virginia Agri- 
cultural and Mechanical Institute; 24 it repealed the 
act for a general sale of the state's railroad assets; 
refused even to consider a somewhat similar plan for dis- 
posing of the James River and Kanawha Canal; and 
resumed the older policy, under which the great era of 
railroad consolidation and expansion was soon brought 
to a close. 25 It limited the permissible private interest 
rate to eight per cent, which was even lower than that 
allowed in the unamended constitution, rendered easier 
the redemption of lands held for delinquent taxes, and 
tried seriously, though in vain, to stave off the threat- 
ened defeat of the exemption laws by the state courts. 26 
Aided by the general desire of the whites to be rid of an 
impracticable "Yankee idea," it took the first steps 
toward amending the local government system. 27 It 

22 House Jour., 1871-1872; Dispatch, March, 1871, passim; Whig, August 
8, 1877. 

23 An act of February 23, 1867, authorizing payment of full interest on 
their bonds was continued in force by act of March 20, 1872, and from 
time to time thereafter, Second Auditor, Beport, 1879, p. 10. 

24 Acts, 1871-1872, pp. 48, 312. It was to be supported by the proceeds 
from two-thirds of the land scrip donated by Congress in 1862, and by a 
local appropriation; but state appropriations were of course soon made. 

25 The old railroad wars continued, however, being especially fierce in 
1874 and 1875. Cf. Dispatch, Whig, Enquirer, passim. They ceased with 
the appointment of receivers for most of the roads in 1876 and 1877. 
Acts, 1871-1872, p. 45; Annual Cyc, 1872, 1873; Brown Papers. 

26 Above; Acts, 1871-1872, pp. 72, 99; 1872-1873, pp. 138, 177, 329. 
The exemption act of June 27, 1870, and the clause of the state constitution 
on which it was based were declared unconstitutional by the state supreme 
court in 1872, 22 Grattan, 266. 

27 Above, p. 18. 



REACTION, AND THE COURTS 45 

shifted the burden of taxation noticeably from the farmer 
and the laborer to luxuries and corporate wealth. 28 But 
it did not increase the revenues nor immediately decrease 
expenses. 

Radical as this legislation was, it probably fell short 
of the popular wishes. For of the two houses the lower 
was at once the "fresher from the people" and the more 
extreme. Moreover, a majority of the legislators repre- 
sented the upper and middle classes, the negroes and the 
"odds and ends" having voted for Republicans and Inde- 
pendents who advocated more extreme action in economic 
and fiscal matters. Did the people of the state, then, 
wish to repudiate? Some thought so. 29 Certainly, the 
first step toward repudiating "peelers" had been taken. 
Yet the legislators intended only to get rid of town and 
corporate influences and Yankee ideas, to regain con- 
trol over the state's finances so as to adjust them equit- 
ably and rationally, and to give the substantial country 
people a chance to recover. 30 This was certainly a very 
natural course for farmers and ex-Confederates to take, 
and by no means an improper one. On the announce- 
ment of the court's decision, however, most of them 

28 This was done (1) by permitting revaluation of land and the oyster 
catch; (2) by imposing taxes on gross receipts of transportation and insur- 
ance companies in addition to license and property taxes; (3) by a sales 
tax, as well as license tax, on liquor. Not all of this was new, but the 
tendency was decidedly as stated. See Acts, 1871-1872 (including extended 
session). 

29 For vote on suspension of funding, see Sen. Jour., 1871-1872, p. 88; 
Enquirer, December 16, 1871; Euffin, Facts. Conservatives favoring sus- 
pension were: Thomas J. Christian, A. Fulkerson, C. T. O'Ferrall, F. 
McMullin, H. H. Kiddleberger, Wm. E. Taliaferro, Wm. E. Terry. On 
prohibiting receipt of coupons for taxes the party vote was : ayes, 81 
Conservatives, 33 Eepublicans, 5 Independents; noes, 32 Conservatives, 1 
Eepublican. The vote on the private interest rate bill was quite similar. 

so See House resolution of December 23, 1871; Whig, December 28, 29; 
contra, Enquirer, December 20, 1871; Beligious Herald and Central Pres- 
byterian, in Enquirer, February 19, 1872. 



46 READJUSTER MOVEMENT IN VIRGINIA 

yielded out of traditional respect; and it was they who 
blocked further action of the same character. But 
Republicans and Independents and a minority of the 
Conservatives, chiefly those from the "Southwest," 
agreed with the dissenting judge 31 that the decision was 
wrong in law because under it "liens and mortgages 
may be given upon the future revenues of the state, by 
statutes assuming the form of contracts"; and with the 
Whig 32 that it substantiated an impression begun since 
the war that "the law which is dispensed is wanting in 
the essential elements of justice and equity." 

Thus, by 1872, party lines and policies had become 
definitely established. Despite its varied program of 
liberalism, democracy, and reform, the Republican party 
was controlled, through federal appointees, from Wash- 
ington, and few besides the negroes were attracted to 
it. On the other hand, the Conservative party relied 
upon its single promise of native white control ; and this 
sufficed both to hold together the Bourbons and the 
capitalistic interests and to control the state legislature. 
The elections of 1871, however, had disclosed a wide 
difference of opinion among Conservatives, due in part to 
a Confederate reaction, now just beginning, and in part 
to divergence of economic and social interests and prin- 
ciples. Especially noteworthy was the legislature's 
attack upon the Funding Act. This subsided, however, 
when the attempts at undoing the act met defeats at the 
hands of the governor and the courts. But the Rich- 
mond Whig and other Conservatives, especially in the 
"Southwest," bitterly condemned governor and courts 
as well as the Funding Act. Republicans shared this 
hostility. 

3i Judge Staples lived in the ' ' Southwest. ' ' 
32 December 17, 18, 1872. 



CHAPTER V 

"DEBT PAYERS," AND THE ELEMENTS OF 
DISSATISFACTION, 1874-1877 

As the campaigns of 1870 and 1871 fixed unalterably 
the issue between the Conservatives and the Radicals, 
so the contest for governor and legislature in 1873 and 
the events growing immediately out of it sealed the fate 
of the Republican party until its rejuvenation in the 
early eighties. 1 

The prospects of the Republicans at the beginning of 
the campaign were bright. Through their victory over 
the Conservatives supporting the Liberal-Democratic 
combination headed by Greeley the year previous, they 
were enabled to urge with more effect than before the 
futility of the non-partisan idea. Though the Conser- 
vatives quite correctly attributed this defeat to their 
candidate and not to their party policy, they could con- 
ceal neither their factions nor the failure of their fiscal 
efforts; and so good a politician as Governor Walker 
declared confidentially that only two Conservatives 
could be sure of carrying the state that year (1873). 2 
Accordingly, being assured of continued support from 
the federal administration, liberal Republican leaders 
early took the initiative and by July were able to 
assemble a state convention marked, as in 1871, by the 
domination of federal employees and the subordination 

i See eh. 13. 

2 Letter to W. H. Buffner, May 7, Buffner Papers. Walker 's view, how- 
ever, proved incorrect. Walker was now recognized as a Conservative. 



48 READJUSTEE MOVEMENT IN VIRGINIA 

of the negroes. For governor they nominated Robert 
W. Hughes, once an extreme secessionist but now fed- 
eral district-attorney in the "Southwest," a man of 
excellent family, the "brains of his party," and a reputed 
favorite of Grant. Carpet-baggers were represented by 
C. P. Ramsdell, of Surry, and old Union men by David 
Fultz, of the once strongly Whiggish county of Augusta. 
In an intelligent and well written platform they offered 
to the ' ' Southwest ' ' development of its resources through 
outside capital and federal aid; to the railroads, a "free" 
policy; and to liberal sentiment, the hospitable reception 
of immigrants, exact and impartial justice, and fair elec- 
tions. As in 1872, they endorsed the administration of 
the schools under Supt. William H. Ruffner, 3 Conserva- 
tive though he was, urging only a more democratic 
method of selecting the local trustees. Shifting to meet 
the changed situation, they condemned repudiation in 
any form and promised compulsory adjustment with 
West Virginia through use of the federal courts. 4 

The Conservatives, however, again refused to recog- 
nize any issue save negro rule under federal direction. 
Their newspapers refrained from expressing guberna- 
torial preferences, and their convention, marked even 
more than in 1871 by the prominence of old leaders, spent 
its energies in stately compliments to itself and bitter 
denunciation of Radicalism. A brief platform noted the 
results of Radical rule in the Southern states, declared 
for "exact and impartial justice" to both races, pointed 
"with pride" to the school system, promised to co-op- 
erate with "Gen. Grant" in cultivating good will 
between the sections, and urged the completion of the 
James River and Kanawha Canal as a matter of national 

s Below, p. 60. 

* Enquirer, Whig, July 31, August 1; Dispatch, August 7, 1873; Annual 
Cyc, 1873. 



"DEBT PAYERS" 49 

importance. For governor they named Gen. James L. 
Kemper, of the Valley, a soldier of two wars and twice 
Speaker, a liberal in politics and a friend of Mahone in 
the railroad war. Then, by a dramatic coup, they com- 
pelled Kemper's closest competitor, Col. R. E. Withers 
(now of the " Southwest"), an ex-Bourbon and an enemy 
of Mahone, to accept the second place. The ticket was 
completed with the name of Raleigh T. Daniel, of Rich- 
mond, a lawyer and editor of war-time fame and since 
the war the dominating party chairman. 5 Likewise, in 
the campaign that followed, the Conservatives permitted 
but one issue; with this they colored all the brilliant 
liberal speeches of Hughes. Hitherto they had carefully 
refused to draw the race line; now, without nominally 
changing this policy, they refused in places to enter joint 
discussions and by thus "dividing the crowd" compelled 
white men to support the Conservative party or repudi- 
ate their color. After this the result was never in doubt. 
Hughes was overwhelmingly defeated. 6 

The Republican party now began to pay in full for the 
indignities which it had attempted to heap upon ex-Con- 
federates. For some time trickery and fraud had been 
practiced by the Conservatives and the drawing of the 
color line tended to encourage the practice. But such 
methods were ever uncertain in their results, they lacked 
social respectability and were in direct defiance of stat- 

s Above, pp. 20, 39. The chairmanship of the state committee and 
that of the executive committee were hereafter held by different men. , 

« Dispatch, July 13, August 8, November 4, 5; Enquirer, July 18, 20, 
August 7, 8; Whig, July 17, August 5, 7, 8; November 4, 5, 12, 1873; With- 
ers, Autobiography, p. 313. For Mahone 's share in the selection of Kemper, 
see below, p. 70. That Eepublicans hoped for assistance from public school 
men is indicated by a letter of Hughes to Superintendent Ruffner, April 24, 
1873, and by the reported assertion of Eamsdell that Superintendent 
Ruffner was not in accord with Conservative policy as to schools; also by 
the preparation of John W. Daniel (letter to Ruffner, October 1, 1873), 
to meet the move, Ruffner Papers. 



50 READJUSTER MOVEMENT IN VIRGINIA 

utes which their sponsors had made. 7 So an amendment 
to the suffrage law embedded in the constitution was pro- 
posed by the legislature in 1874 and ratified in 1876, 
under which failure to pay the poll tax and conviction 
for many petty crimes became disqualifications. This 
limitation of suffrage, together with the abolition of one- 
third of the local offices, was an "undoing of reconstruc- 
tion ' ' which rendered unnecessary the constitutional con- 
vention that would otherwise probably have been called. 8 
As a result, the hold of Republicans, already weakened 
in the counties and towns, was now broken completely. 
Of the two federal senators chosen by the compromising 
legislature of 1869, one had proved to be a good Conserv- 
ative and the other was replaced by Colonel Withers 
in 1875 ; next year the Conservatives elected all but one 
of the members of the House. 9 By the end of Kemper's 
administration (1878), therefore, federal appointees had 
become not only the dominating leaders of the Repub- 
lican party but almost the party itself. With this condi- 
tion of affairs they appeared quite content. 

When Governor Kemper began his term, January 1, 
1874, Virginia faced not only the effects of a far-reaching 
national panic — in her case unrelieved by previous pros- 
perity — but also the fiscal woes inevitably arising from 

7 Knight v. Johnson, Sen. Jour., 1875-1876, Doe. 3; Piatt v. Goode, in 
C. H. Powell, Digest of Contested Election Cases; Acts, May 11, 1870; 
March 30, 1871; April 30, 1874. 

s Thorpe, 3901, above, pp. 19, 44. A. E. McKinley in "Two Southern 
Constitutions" (Political Science Quarterly, IX, p. 671) quite overlooks 
this fact. The bulking of the negroes made such laws necessary. The 
political motive is evident from the fact that negroes voted against them. 
Cf. Dunning, "Undoing of Eeconstruction, " in Atlantic Monthly, 
LXXXVIII, p. 437. 

9 In 1874 and in 1876 ex-Governor Walker was chosen by Conservatives 
of the Eiehmond district, previously represented by the Eadicals C. H. 
Porter and James A. Smith. At the expiration of his second term he 
returned to New York. 



"DEBT PAYERS" 51 

previous policies. The legislature of 1870-1871 had 
avoided the problem of current debt interest by permit- 
ting the greater part of it to be funded. The succeeding 
legislature had managed to retard the annual million 
dollar inflow of coupons by offering four per cent in cash 
and two per cent certificates in exchange for them, while 
making their sale for tax-paying purposes difficult. 10 By 
means of these devices and the habitual under-payment 
of appropriations for other purposes, especially for the 
"peeler" debt, the annual deficit of about a million 
dollars had been temporarily concealed. 11 But now the 
large surplus which had existed at the beginning of 
Governor Walker's administration was gone. Nearly a 
million dollars in authorized cash payments and half a 
million in tax-receivable coupons were outstanding, the 
current year would show a deficit of almost another mil- 
lion, the bulk of the state's assets had been bargained 
away, and general economic conditions demanded a 
decrease, rather than an increase, in taxes. 12 

The fiscal views of the new governor were unknown 
at the time of his election, the debt not having been a 
campaign issue that year. To the great disgust of the 
financial world, however, he attacked the problem at 
once, somewhat after the manner of the legislature of 
1871-1872. The fundamental need, he said, was a "per- 
manent financial policy." The first essential of this 
policy was equality of creditors and uniformity of obli- 
gations, and the proper way to obtain these objects was 

io Acts of March 19, 1872 (repealed December 23, 1872); March 13, 
1873; December 24, 1872 (prohibiting collecting officers from dealing in 
coupons and imposing a broker's license tax on other persons dealing in 
them). Only some $300,000 in coupons were turned in for taxes up to 
October 1, 1873, Second Auditor, Report, 1873. 

11 Message, March 8, 1870. 

12 Auditor, Report, 1874. In addition there were $1,800,000 of deferred 
interest certificates. 



52 EEADJUSTER MOVEMENT IN VIRGINIA 

to call a conference of consol holders and induce them to 
exchange their tax-receivable coupons for, say, four per 
cent in cash and two per cent in deferred interest certifi- 
cates. The second essential was prompt payment of 
interest, for which the necessary money could be obtained 
only by a more careful administration of the revenue 
laws, by finding new subjects of taxation, and by reduc- 
ing expenses in proportion to the state's reduced capa- 
city, through a constitutional convention if necessary. 13 
The legislature endorsed the governor's proposal by 
authorizing the conference, and named the governor and 
R. M. T. Hunter, the treasurer, as the state's represen- 
tatives. At the appointed time, ex-Secretary of the 
Treasury Hugh McCulloch came to represent part of 
the British holders; Richmond men and some members 
of the legislature spoke for most of the other creditors. 
In a long address the governor portrayed the extreme 
distress of the people and the heaviness of the state's 
burdens, coupling with this gloomy picture a severe 
arraignment of his predecessor for misrepresentation of 
the facts and waste of the state's assets. Asserting that 
there was a strong sentiment against the debt entertained 
by "leading minds," he intimated that the coupons could 
be successfully fought. On the other hand, he empha- 
sized the desire of the state to be perfectly fair and her 
ability to meet her obligations if given time for recovery. 
The creditors' representatives agreed with the gover- 
nor that the state could pay four per cent now and should 
soon be able to pay six per cent. They could do no more, 
however, than resolve that if punctual payment of inter- 
est should be guaranteed, those consol holders who had 
no taxes to pay would, in their opinion, accept the terms 

is Messages, January 1, March 27 (Sen. Jour., 1874, Doc. 17), December 
2, 1874 (with appended speech before the conference, Sen. Jour., 1874-1875, 
Doc. 1). 



"DEBT PAYERS" 53 

proposed by the governor. 14 Out of this resolution grew 
several propositions, more or less authorized, for fund- 
ing the consol debt. But from the stringency of their 
terms it was obvious that the holders of consols intended 
to surrender their position of preferred creditors only 
for a better one, and that they would permit no relief to 
holders of "peelers." This attitude they soon made 
very clear by thrusting upon the treasury a deluge of 
coupons. 15 

Thus by 1875 two attempts at undoing the Funding Act 
had been undertaken by the Conservatives, and had 
failed. Further agitation would probably prove equally 
futile. It might injure the party; it would handicap 
business, already sorely distressed and clamoring for a 
cessation of attacks upon credit, and it would be accom- 
panied by appeals to the whims and passions of the 
masses, to which the Bourbons, now rapidly recovering 
their old-time influence, were bitterly opposed. Accord- 
ingly, in the opinion of a majority of the legislature and 
of almost the entire press, nothing remained but to "pay 
the debt. ' ' This view Governor Kemper accepted. And 
with his acceptance began a united and truly heroic 
attempt on the part of almost all the upper classes to 
meet the state's obligations as they stood. 

The program of the "debt payers" was divided into 
three parts : reduction of expenses, increase of revenues, 
and reorganization of the sinking fund. 

14 Op. cit.; Dispatch, November 11, 1874. Senator H. W. Thomas, of 
Alexandria, presided; James Dooley, of Richmond, was secretary. Seventy- 
five to eighty per cent of the consols were held outside the state. Below, 
p. 89. 

is Sen. Jour., 1874-1875, Doc. 4; Dispatch, November II, 18, 1874; 
Second Auditor, Beport, 1875. The Dispatch (December 18, 1876) advo- 
cated a waiting attitude. The Enquirer (December 12) believed the whole 
attempt "a lame demagogic movement." Even the Whig (December 3) 
was unenthusiastic. 



54 READJUSTEE MOVEMENT IN VIRGINIA 

State expenses 16 for all "ordinary" purposes from 
1850 to 1860, according to Governor Kemper, averaged 
$588,236; from 1869 to 1875, $1,084,189— an increase of 
eighty-four per cent with, population and territory 
reduced nearly one-third. Among "extraordinary" 
expenses, also, there were new and increased items (quite 
apart from the public debt) the total of which is not 
easily ascertainable. Some of these items were due to 
inefficiency and petty graft, often concealed in fees, 
travelling expenses, and the like. Others, however, were 
the unavoidable outcome of war and reconstruction. 
Such were the one hundred and twenty-five per cent 
increase in ' ' criminal expenses ' ' for which emancipation 
and the cumbersome judicial system were responsible, 
and the eighty-seven per cent in legislative costs for 
which matters of race adjustment, the unprecedented 
fiscal situation, and the enlarged powers and duties of 
the General Assembly offered sufficient reason. Such, 
too, were increases of some $275,000 for public schools 
and of perhaps $50,000 for the care of lunatics, a class of 
expenses which popular approval quite as much as posi- 
tive law rendered unavoidable. 17 This situation the 

is Local expenses were curtailed through reducing township officers from 
twelve to eight and giving the legislature control over local debts. Cf. 
above, p. 50. 

17 Governor, Message, December 1, 1875; Sen. Jour., 1859-1860, Doc. 33; 
Annual Reports, 1877; "Civis" (B. Puryear, professor in Richmond Col- 
lege) in Eeligious Herald, January 17 to February 28, 1878. The division 
between "ordinary" and "extraordinary" expenses is largely an arbitrary 
one; but the comparison made by Kemper appears fair. "Criminal 
expenses" were allowances made by the state to the county and circuit 
courts; the penitentiary was an additional expense, the negroes furnishing 
the great bulk of the inmates. In 1879, 110 lunatics were being kept in 
jail and other places besides asylums at an expense to the state of $35,000 
a year. Emancipation both increased the amount of crime and trans- 
ferred the policing of the negro from private to public hands; so with 
lunacy. An illustration of pettiness appears in Sen. Jour., 1877-1878, 
Doc. 12, where it is reported that of $1,300 appropriated for the encourage- 



"DEBT PAYERS" 55 

"debt payers" attacked vigorously, some favoring a 
return to the standard of 1860 or perhaps even lowering 
it in proportion to war losses. 18 But the Radicals, 
insisting that the adoption of more direct penalties and 
more summary processes would degrade the lower 
classes, retarded the adoption of a revised criminal code 
until 1879 ; then an annual saving of $50,000 was at once 
shown. Though the legislature as early as 1874 proposed 
a constitutional amendment reducing its own member- 
ship and substituting biennial for annual sessions, this 
amendment did not become effective until 1880, because, 
some said, legislators liked Richmond and their easy 
salaries. Though both Walker and Kemper had ear- 
nestly urged more work and fewer clerks in the depart- 
mental offices, every effort in this direction was blocked 
by the "associated influence" of interested persons. 19 
There seemed, indeed, to be two fundamental difficulties. 
The leaders insisted upon treating alike, as equally for- 
eign and objectionable, those expenses which were mere 
abuses and those which in the long run would prove both 
popular and productive. Again, some fees and salaries 
had come to be considered the customary reward of 
politicians, great and small, and necessary, in the absence 
of federal patronage, to keep the state out of the hands 
of the negroes. The result was that a standard of econ- 

ment of immigration, $1,000 went for a Summary of Virginia, of which 
libraries received 303 copies, legislators 1,760, and 43 were sold. Half 
the legislature's time was consumed in private legislation, sometimes for 
minor matters — empowering a high school to grant certificates of distinction, 
for example. 

is Above, p. 20; "Civis," op. cit. 

is Acts, 1877-1878, p. 207; Thorpe, VII, 3903; Sen. Jour., 1877-1878, 
Doc. 7; Auditor, Reports; Governor, Message, December 1, 1877; "Civis," 
op. cit. Under the revised code the first to suffer the penalty of whipping 
was a white man in Norfolk, and at the hands of a negro constable, Annual 
Cyc, 1878. 



56 READJUSTEE MOVEMENT IN VIRGINIA 

omy severe even to niggardliness 20 was set for new 
undertakings without effecting any considerable elimina- 
tion of abuses or curtailment of expenses. 

The tax-paying class believed themselves to be getting 
poorer. In 1875, though the full effects of neither the 
long period of depreciating prices nor the panic of 1873 
had yet been felt, reassessment of realty showed a loss 
of twelve per cent as compared with 1870. 21 Unused to 
heavy taxes the people believed their burdens already 
too great. Every year $7,000,000 of excise taxes were 
collected in the state, and, on a per capita basis, the 
state 's share of the tariff amounted to nearly $6,000,000 ; 
these great sums, the tax-paying class believed, were 
paid by the people of the state. Besides, state and local 
taxes amounted to over $5,000,000. 22 To increase the 
state's revenues was, accordingly, very difficult. Treas- 
urer R. M. T. Hunter devised a tax revision scheme 
intended primarily to reach personalty; but, as such a 
scheme would affect landowners primarily, it was quietly 
dropped, for opinion was all but unanimous that the land- 
owners could stand no further burden. Taxes on busi- 
ness licenses were tried as far as the increasing political 
importance of the merchant and the doctor permitted. 23 
Capital, notwithstanding its demand for an honest debt 
policy, availed itself of every constitutional safeguard, 
of old charter exemptions, and of the strong railroad 
contingent in the legislature; not until 1879 did it pay 

20 Below, pp. 59 ff. Because of poverty the state was not represented at 
the Centennial Exposition. 

2i Act of March 31, 1875; Auditor, Reports, 1871, Doc. 9; ibid., 1877, 
Doc. 7. The valuations were $279,000,000 and $246,000,000 (currency). 

22 Sen. Jour., 1874-1875, Doc. 1. 

23 See, for example, tax bill of 1874. In 1879, these yielded (exclusive 
of licenses to manufacture and sell liquor) $340,000 — a very great increase 
over 1871. 



"DEBT PAYERS" 57 

as much as $120,000. 24 Great efforts were made to reach 
the masses. Thus a dog tax, it was urged, would net 
large sums; but the legislature gave it only a brief and 
imperfect trial, for the dogs' owners had votes. 25 For 
a similar reason the suggested increase of the poll tax 
from one dollar to two was not tried; and the require- 
ment that the dollar tax be paid before voting netted little 
additional revenue. 26 Dr. Moffett, of the Valley, fathered 
an act for taxing the consumption of liquor which was 
expected to produce half a million and to solve the whole 
matter. But the liquor dealers, now an important 
political factor, fought it so successfully that there was 
a large loss the first year, only a slight gain the second, 
and in the third the act was repealed. 27 

At the beginning of Kemper's administration the 
state had two sinking funds : one amounting to a million 
and a half dollars in 1861, but dormant since then; the 
other created by the act of March 31, 1871, for the 
reception of proceeds from the public works. Both were 
invested almost entirely in state bonds. By an act of 
March 31, 1875, the former fund was revived and con- 
solidated with the latter, and payment of interest on 
the whole was authorized. The practice immediately 
arose of investing this interest in the cheaper state 
securities. This practice was open to the serious 
objection that the state was paying herself interest in 
preference to her creditors, and was depreciating their 
holdings in order to buy them in at a low price. But it 

24 For efforts and difficulties see tax bill of 1871-1872 (extended ses- 
sion); act of February 4, 1873; Governor, Message, December 3, 1879; 
Auditor, Reports, passim. 

25 Acts, 1871-1872; 1872-1873; Whig, January 3, 20, 1877. 

26 Below. 

27 Acts, 1876-1877, pp. 245, 301; 1878-1879, p. 310; 1879-1880, p. 147; 
Auditor, Reports; Enquirer, March 3, April 1; Dispatch, February 7, 1877; 
January 17, 1879. The motive appears to have been mainly fiscal. Kegu- 
lation of the business was quite a problem, however, Whig, January 5, 1879. 



58 KEADJUSTEB MOVEMENT IN VIRGINIA 

was certainly legal because the constitution required a 
sinking fund, and it was probably just because it pro- 
vided a market for peelers at a time when funds were 
not available for interest on them. 28 Moreover, it seemed 
to assure their eventual retirement. By 1877 the total 
of this fund was $5,145,271 ; by 1879, $5,841,620. 29 

By 1877 in the opinion of Governor Kemper, 30 the fiscal 
results of these efforts were very encouraging. For the 
fiscal year 1876-1877, Kemper estimated a net gain of 
nearly $200,000 over the average for eight years. "It 
is as clear as a mathematical demonstration," he wrote, 
"that, if the legislature shall leave the general features 
of the present revenue system untouched . . . , the 
current resources of the treasury will hereafter suffice 
to pay full interest on the entire outstanding debt." 
But this optimism, so characteristic of debt payers, 
found little warrant in the auditor's reports of that year. 
Over four millions of interest were accrued and unpaid 
on July 1. Presuming an increase of $125,000 in reve- 
nues the next year, the annual deficit would still be 
$600,000. 

But this policy of the debt payers, commendable as it 

28 Authorization of four per cent cash (and a two per cent certificate) 
for interest on the funded and two-thirds the unfunded was made in 1874 
and 1878, provided so much could be spared. In 1876, in order to avoid 
the discussion always occasioned by special authorizations, interest payment 
was left entirely to the auditor's discretion under the last clause of the 
general appropriation act, Acts, 1874, p. 264; 1874-1875, p. 366; 1875- 
1876, p. 263. The amount actually paid in cash in 1876 was $158,000, and 
in 1877, $68,000, Auditor, Report, 1876, Doc. 3; ibid., 1877, Doc. 4. 

29 See C. U. Williams, Present Financial Status of Virginia. Apparently, 
in 1879 some $2,000,000 represented the old fund and its invested interest; 
some $50,000, the bonds of defaulting officials; $1,540,000 had been "pur- 
chased by the commissioners" apparently under act of March 31, 1875; 
and the rest had come from the sales of state assets. See Second Auditor, 
"Report, 1873, Doc. C. 

30 Message, December 5, 1877. Compare with message of December 6, 
1876, for the governor's optimism. 



"DEBT PAYERS" 59 

was, contained one serious defect. It did not take into 
account the elements of dissatisfaction. Three illus- 
trations of this will suffice. 

Early as 1873 the farmers had begun to organize in 
"granges," for the purpose of alleviating the "languish- 
ing condition of agricultural interests" "caused in part 
by the oppression of unequal legislation, both state and 
national." Strongly opposed at first because they 
"introduced innovations upon long and well established 
usages of society" and endangered the Conservative 
party, these granges by January, 1876, numbered 685 
with a membership of 18,783, including many conserv- 
ative farmers and shrewd politicians. In state meet- 
ings, they appointed committees to obtain favorable 
legislation on transportation, immigration, and the 
inspection of tobacco and fertilizers. Locally, they 
attempted to manufacture fertilizers and to do away 
with the middleman 's profits through co-operative stores 
and agencies. In 1877, however, the legislature had done 
little for them, the co-operative undertakings were 
failing, and the membership appeared to be deteriorat- 
ing, with a consequent passing of leadership into more 
radical hands. 31 

si State Grange, Proceedings, 1874, 1876; Southern Planter and Farmer, 
1872-1876; "Personal Eeeollection. " The long established State Agri- 
cultural Society still existed; also local farmers' clubs. Prominent first 
members were J. W. White, William Taylor, and Lewis E. Harvie. In 
1875, M. W. Hazlewood of Richmond (below) became secretary. Other 
active members were Franklin Stearns, W. H. Mann, C. T. Sutherlin, B. B. 
Douglass, Mann Page, J. M. Blanton, R. R. Farr (below), Wm. Ambler, 
Frank G. Ruffin (below). The Virginia Patron became the organ of the 
order. The Southern Planter was favorable, but appears never to have 
endorsed agitation of railroad rates. The promotion of public education 
was one of its declared objects, but this was not emphasized. Possibly the 
long and short haul law (Acts, 1874-1875, p. 443) procured a reduction 
of freight charges on grain; but the rates on guano, agricultural lime, etc., 
were very high and unequal, Sen. Jour., 1878-1879, Doc. 19; Railroad 
Commissioner, Beport, 1878. Cf. Magruder, Recent Administration, eh. 6. 



60 READJUSTEE MOVEMENT IN VIRGINIA 

To a majority of the upper classes between 1865 and 
1870 the idea of a state system of public education was 
distinctly objectionable. The institution, they declared, 
was a foreign one which their conquerors sought to force 
upon them. Its main purpose was to break down all 
social ranks and put the negro upon a plane of equality 
with the whites. It was an experiment too costly to be 
tried in the impoverished condition of the state. Others, 
however, ignoring its immediate origin, declared the 
institution theoretically good and practically a necessity, 
in view of the breaking down of the old system and the 
impossibility of fitting it to the negro even if it should 
be revived. As a sort of compromise between these two 
views, it had come to be generally agreed by 1869-1871 
that since the constitution had been accepted with the 
provision for schools in it, the experiment ought to be 
made in good faith. Such was the view of Governor 
Walker, of Gen. R. E. Lee (then president of Washington 
College), of the Whig, and probably of the Dispatch. 
To this sentiment the legislature of 1870 responded by 
entrusting the drafting of the school laws and, virtually, 
the selection of local school officials to the state super- 
intendent, and by electing as state superintendent Rev. 
Dr. William Henry Ruffner, son of the famous Henry 
Ruffner, 32 a man of broad intelligence, marked admin- 
istrative ability, and indomitable energy. Thus at once 
the schools were removed from the influence of ordinary 
politics and the foundation was laid for a system sur- 
prisingly good and destined rapidly to increase in 
popularity. Poverty helped; for many a genteel lady 
and disabled veteran found employment in the schools 
and threw about them a much-needed atmosphere of 
respectability. From the first the negroes favored them 
solidly. The attempted passage in 1874 of Sumner's 

32 See Branch Historical Papers, June, 1910. 



"DEBT PAYERS" 61 

Civil Rights Bill requiring mixed schools threatened for 
a moment to put them out of existence; but this was 
soon forgotten. 33 And though the whites generally 
thought that the negro's education ought to be paid for 
by the federal government and a request to that effect 
was made, still the negro received, on the whole, a 
reasonable share of the facilities provided. 34 By 1877 
nine-tenths of the families of the state were public school 
patrons, and it was accounted political death for a public 
man to oppose openly this institution "of the people." 35 
But there still remained lurking in the financial 
situation a serious danger to the schools. At first, land- 
owners had protested against the ten cent tax imposed 
by the state and the still larger taxes imposed by the 
local governments. Appreciating the importance of this 
landowning class, Superintendent Ruffner at once sug- 
gested the substitution of an increased poll tax and a 
tax on dogs and the consumption of liquor, arguing that 
many would contribute for schools in this manner though 
they would not for anything else. The suggested change 
was not made, but with the increased use of the schools 
opposition of this character gradually died away, save 
for the fitful attacks of that old-fashioned organ of the 

33 Rhodes, History of the United States, VII, 90 ; State Superintendent, 
Report, 1874. The legislature protested, Poore, Descriptive Catalogue, 
p. 989. 

34 The whites constituting seven-twelfths of the population (according 
to the census of 1880) received three-fourths of the school funds. But 
the negroes paid almost no taxes, were more compactly settled. Besides, 
it was almost impossible to get suitable teachers in sufficient numbers. 
For aid to the Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute see acts of 
February 7, March 19, 1872. 

35 State Superintendent, Reports, 1871-1878; Educational Journal of 
Virginia, 1869, 1870; September, 1878; Dispatch, July 10, 1877; February 
1, 14, 1878. Very effective in harmonizing public sentiment and the new 
system was the work of the Educational Journal of Virginia, of which John 
B. Minor, of the University of Virginia, was the father, and C. H. Winston, 
of Richmond College, the chief editor. 



62 READJUSTER MOVEMENT IN VIRGINIA 

farmers who could not change, the Southern Planter. 
Between the schools and the debt, however, the clash 
grew sharper and sharper. Early as 1873 36 the super- 
intendent, with characteristic foresight, secured the 
passage of an act requiring the auditor to pay the 
schools their constitutional quota of state funds in cash. 
Despite this it was discovered in 1876 that there was 
due the schools down to 1875 nearly $400,000. By 1877 
this sum had increased to $526,000, and in September of 
the next year appeared to be $850,000. If to this amount 
was added the interest due on the state bonds held by 
the literary fund, the total "diverted" was over a 
million. 37 The auditor's excuse was the confusion of the 
state's bookkeeping and the inadequacy of the revenues. 
He had, he said, paid the schools more than their pro 
rata share (one-fifth) of the cash received; the govern- 
ment must go on; the obligation to pay the debt was 
equally as sacred as the schools. Worse still, from the 
viewpoint of school partisans, the colleges and the 
religious press, being habitually conservative and tied 
up in interest with the bond-holding class, urged the 
moral obligation to pay the debt while speaking of the 
education of the masses as a luxury. 38 Bourbons took 
courage, and began to talk of abolishing the new system 
in favor of the old one. And a prominent debt payer 
was understood to have said publicly that it would be 
better to burn the schoolhouses than to permit the state 
to default in interest payment on the debt. Thus it came 
about that, while the people were paying the school tax 

s« Act of March 29. 

37 Superintendent, Reports, 1876, 1877, 1878; Auditor, Report, 1878. 
Of $8,511,943 cash received by the state from 1873 to 1877, $1,912,266 was 
paid to the schools. 

38 Second Auditor, Report, 1879; Religious Herald, 1878, 1879, passim. 
Not all college men agreed with the auditor, e.g., John B. Minor, letter to 
Ruffner, November 21, 1877, in Ruffner Papers. 



''DEBT PAYERS" 63 

and the system was growing in popularity, teachers were 
going unpaid and schools were closing. These facts the 
state superintendent did not fail to point out, and the 
politicians, great and small, took notice. 39 

In later years when the "Readjuster" political party 
had been formed, 40 certain men were often spoken of as 
"original readjusters." By this it was meant that they 
had at an early date objected to recognizing the whole 
debt of the state as valid, and had insisted that it be 
"re-adjusted." Hints of this view we have met from 
time to time. It originated, apparently, in a feeling of 
humiliation and resentment that men who had inflicted 
loss upon the state, and such Virginians as were now 
willing to ally themselves with them, should be able to 
levy tribute upon those who had defended her with their 
all. The enactment of laws staying the collection of 
private debts, the setting aside of a share of the public 
debt for West Virginia, the iniquities of the Funding 
Act, and the obvious impossibility of meeting its terms, 
all contributed to emphasize the idea in thoughtful 
minds. 41 

In the legislature the notable advocates of this view 
were Massey and Fulkerson, 42 J. Horace Lacy, of Spott- 
sylvania, Moffett, of Rockingham, and Lybrook, of 
Patrick. They argued 43 that -Virginia had been "con- 

39 The situation as to asylums and other public charities was similar to 
that of the schools. The Enquirer (February 4, 1875) estimated the 
number of the insane unprovided for at 500. 

40 Below, ch. 8. 
*i Above, passim. 
42 Below, p. 105. 

*3 This is a composite argument. For development of Massey 's views 
compare his letter of 1873, his speech in the House in February, 1875, his* 
pamphlet, Debts and Taxes, published in the fall of 1875, and articles in 
the Staunton Spectator in 1877. The speech is in Virginia Political Pam, 
pfilets, I (Virginia State Library), the others in his "Autobiography." 
See also Buffin, Scrap-Boole, I (Virginia State Library), An Appeal; 
Fulkerson in Whig, January 13, 1879. 



64 READJUSTEE MOVEMENT IN VIRGINIA 

quered territory" and therefore, according to the law 
of nations, her ante-bellum debts devolved upon her 
conqueror. If the federal government would not admit 
this, then equity demanded that the* debt should be 
reduced in proportion to the impairment of the security 
on which it had been based — one-third for the loss of 
West Virginia and one-third for property destroyed by 
war, leaving $15,000,000 principal and interest as of 1865. 
No recognition of the debt was valid which had been made 
between 1865 and 1870, because the state was not then 
in possession of her "sovereignty." As for the Funding 
Act, its moral force was vitiated by fraud in its passage; 
and though the courts had declared it binding, that 
decision was wrong in principle because it "bound the 
state 's sovereignty, ' ' and so could justifiably be reversed 
or avoided. The "state's honor" and "restoration of 
credit ' ' arguments relied upon by debt payers were alike 
purely commercial. Both depended ' upon ability and 
ability was conditioned by the size of the debt. In this 
debt, under existing arrangements, was probably in- 
cluded the portion which had been pretendedly set aside 
for West Virginia but which was known on*the market as 
"Virginia deferred." In it certainly should be included 
the literary and sinking-funds. Taxes on "dogs and 
whiskey" and all the p'ainful expedients of debt payers 
they thought simply absurd. 

After the failure of the compromise move in 1874, 
something like a concerted attack on coupons and a 
campaign for publicity had been begun under the lead 
of these men. Through the columns of the Whig, Col. 
Frank Gr. Ruffin replied in his striking style to the 
Council of Foreign Bondholders, London, over the 
signature of "A Virginia Farmer." 44 Massey sought 
to have the legislature ask explicit instructions from the 

44 Euffin, Scrap-Booh, I. 



''DEBT PAYERS" 65 

people as to the terms on which they were willing to 
compromise with creditors, and in a pamphlet known 
as "Debts and Taxes" he reprinted his peculiar views 
previously expressed through the local press. 45 In the 
legislature, Fulkerson, hoping to bring the Funding Act 
again before the courts, pushed through the House a bill 
imposing a tax of twenty-five per cent on coupons, 46 
while Massey sought, under guise of protecting the 
treasury from fraud, to hamper their receipt for taxes. 47 
In 1876-1877 similar efforts again met defeat; but the 
effects of the agitation were seen in resolutions deliber- 
ately designed to scale the debt one-half or two-thirds, 
which were offered by the Independent Stovall and the 
Radical Curlett. 48 More immediately important were 
the earnest efforts of careful leaders of the old school, 
such as R. M. T. Hunter and A. H. H. Stuart, to effect 
a compromise with creditors ; 49 for these men, though far 
from accepting "original readjuster" principles, inevi- 
tably lent an atmosphere of seriousness to the idea of 
readjustment. 

These measures had received support from practically 
all Republicans, Independents, and "Southwest" Con- 
servatives, from part of the Valley Conservatives, and 
from individuals and counties here and there with whom 
times were hard. 50 There was a certain resemblance, 

•ts See House resolution, in Virginia Political Pamphlets, I; Massey, 
' ' Autobiography! ' ' 

4« Enquirer, March 14, 17; Dispatch, March 18, 20, 1875. 

47 Virginia Political Pamphlets, I; Enquirer, February 11, 1875. Con- 
ditions warranted suspicion, see below, p. 62. 

48 House, Jour., 1876-1877, index. 

49 Stuart 's effort had the endorsement of William Cullen Bryant, Thurlow 
Weed, and Peter Cooper, but it netted only a report on war losses, Whig, 
January 11, 13; March 30, 1877. For Hunter see Kuffin, Scrap-Book, I. 

so House vote on Fulkerson 's proposal: "Ayes," 21 Eadicals, 36 Con- 
servatives, 1 Independent; "Noes," 3 Eadicals, 41 Conservatives, 3 
Independents (Dispatch classification, March 18, 1875). Among Valley 



66 READJUSTEE MOVEMENT IN VIRGINIA 

taking them as a group, between these men and Mahone 's 
railroad faction, though the two were by no means 
identical. They were friendly to the schools. Some of 
them were prominent in the granges. They had back 
of them, however, no organization, no strong press 
support, 51 no great financial interests. At the beginning 
of 1877 it seemed that this second wave of repudiation, 
like that of 1867-1868, had been completely beaten off by 
the determination and influence of "debt payers." 

Summarizing, we find that though the Republicans 
won the national elections of 1870 and 1872, their party 
was again beaten in the state elections in 1873, and 
thereafter rapidly declined. This result was due in part 
to the Confederate reaction and in part to restrictive 
legislation. In this legislation the influence of Bourbon- 
ism, as well as that of politics, was reflected. The fiscal 
situation had now become acute. Accordingly, when, 
creditors had refused to compromise despite veiled 
threats from the new governor, Conservative leaders 
informally adopted a policy of "paying the debt" 
through decreasing expenses, increasing revenues, and 
redeeming the cheaper bonds. This policy completed 
the union between Bourbons and the city capitalistic 
interests. But, though faithfully pursued for four years, 
it met only partial success owing at once to depressed 
> economic conditions and to the burden unavoidably 
imposed by emancipation and the new constitution. 
Moreover, such a policy involved no attempt at concilia- 
tion of the farmers, now seeking defence of their interests 

members not voting was Riddleberger. Eoss Hamilton (below) and James 
B. Richmond voted "aye," Lybrook and Allen (below) voted "no." 
Examples of counties probably influenced by hard times are Spottsylvania, 
Stafford, Lancaster, and Essex. 

51 The Whig favored compromise, but not Massey's and Fulkerson's 
methods. 



"DEBT PAYERS" 67 

in the granges, nor did it appease school partisans to 
see "debt payers" and Bourbons united against them.' 
Believing all other remedies futile, "original read- 
justee" now openly began not only to demand that the 
debt be scaled but also to fight the tax-receivable coupons 
in the legislature and the public press with a view to 
forcing the issue. 



CHAPTER VI 
MAHONE AND THE BARBOUR BILL, 1877-1878 

Both governor and legislature were to be chosen in 
1877. At last, owing to Republican disorganization and 
apathy, 1 the Conservatives were free to act without the 
restraining fear of Radical domination. But it was 
impossible at once to break the habit of years, and the 
habit had been to refer all issues, save that of race con- 
trol, to the decision of the legislative districts, and to 
follow in these districts the leadership of war heroes. 2 
Personal and sectional rivalries, therefore, rather than 
economic and social issues, characterized the guberna- 
torial race in its earlier stages. The "Southwest" pre- 
sented Gen. William Terry; the Valley, Colonel Holli- 
day; 3 the Piedmont, Maj. John W. Daniel; the Tide- 
water, Gen. William B. Taliaferro; while Gen. Fitzhugh 
Lee's friends urged him as a compromise candidate. 
None of these expressed, or was expected to express, 
opinions on the burning economic and social questions 
of the day, for the convention must be left free to "point 
with pride," as of old. From this negative attitude the 
campaign was rescued by the candidacy of General 
Mahone. 

William Mahone 4 was essentially a self-made man. 

i Above, p. 50 ; below, p. 134. 

2 See above, p. 48. 

3 F. W. M. Holliday was born in Winchester. He studied at Yale and 
later took a law course at the University of Virginia. 

4W. L. Eoyall, Some Reminiscences; Withers, Autobiography ; O'Ferrall, 
Forty Years; Euffin, Malwneism Unveiled; Whig, November 20, 1879 
(being a reprint from the Old Dominion Magazine) ; New Virginia. 



MAHONE AND THE BARBOUR BILL 69 

The son of a poor but respected merchant in one of the 
older counties, he had been educated at the Virginia 
Military Institute through the aid of friends. For a 
time he taught school, then he built railroads, notably 
the Norfolk and Petersburg of which he became presi- 
dent. Entering the war as colonel, he came out major- 
general. " Mahone 's brigade" was noted for superior 
equipment and condition, and at Appomattox mustered 
out more men than any other. 5 

Mahone was perhaps the first in the South to grasp 
the possibilities of railway consolidation. Out of three 
loosely connecting and dilapidated roads, he soon created 
a splendid trunk line nearly crossing the state from east 
to west, and of this he became president with the munifi- 
cent salary of $25,000. To this line he diverted from 
more direct routes the northward-bound cotton of the 
South to Norfolk, where allied steamships connected. In 
token of his hopes he called this road the "Atlantic, 
Mississippi, and Ohio." 

To carry out his railroad plans public influence was 
necessary, and this he sought in ways characteristic of 
the new generation rather than of the old. Thus he 
strove to mould public opinion through the Whig* and 
perhaps other newspapers, though his control over their 
ownership was never announced. Always a Conserva- 
tive, he had been found on each successive inauguration 
day "close to" the new governor. When special legis- 
lation was to be enacted, his unseen hand directed that 
new institution, the lobby. If a measure was to be 
defeated, his men were usually in the proper place, 
whether on legislative committees or in departmental 
offices. As agents in these matters, he sometimes 

s Speech of John S. Wise in the convention of 1877 (below). J. H. 
Lacy in an anti-Mahone speech stated that General Lee had expressed a 
preference for Mahone as his successor, Virginia Star, August 20, 1879. 

6 Above, p. 29, and note. 



70 READJUSTEE MOVEMENT IN VIRGINIA 

obtained men already prominent in public life, but more 
frequently he brought forward new men, perhaps by 
organizing the "odds and ends" in their communities. 
And so a "Mahone following" was gradually built up, 
which was strong enough to be credited with having 
determined the selection of Kemper for governor. 7 

But Mahone 's railroad policy had neglected or injured 
towns and sections, and these, especially Richmond and 
the Valley and part of the "Southwest," bore him dis- 
tinct ill will. Competing interests dubbed him the ' ' Rail- 
road Ishmael." 8 Practical men saw in the financial 
arrangements of the A. M. & 0. with the state 9 little less 
than a steal. Though weighty in the councils of his party 
and generous in its support, Mahone so conducted his 
relations with the Republicans and the Liberals as to sug- 
gest a lack of political principle and to create constant 
suspicion. 10 More than one impartial and thoughtful 
man despised his legislative methods and deemed his 
power too great. 11 There was about him, too, an imperi- 
ousness of will and manner that had helped to estrange 

7 See Enquirer, June 6; Whig, May 29, 1876; Dispatch, August 3, 1877. 
The A. M. & O. paid $155,069 for " legal fees, commissions, engraving, 
bonds, &c. " at the time of consolidation, Dispatch, October 11, 1879. For 
Mahone 's share in the campaign of 1873 (above, ch. 5) , see Withers, 
Autobiography, p. 313 ; Whig, July 7, 9 ; August 2, 1872'; Nation, August 
14, 1873; Dispatch, August 3, 1877; Enquirer, June 6; Whig, May 29, 1876. 
Prominent in support of Kemper were Dr. Eives, Dr. Moffett, James 
Barbour, Joseph Mayo, all of whom favored Mahone 's debt views in 1877 
(below). N. B. Meade, editor of the Whig, became chairman of the Con- 
servative executive committee in 1873. 

s The phrase was William E. Cameron 's. For the fight over the Eich- 
mond and Danville Eailroad, to which Mahone, Scott, Garrett, and a group 
of Eichmond men were parties, see Whig, Dispatch, Enquirer, April, May, 
December, 1874. There is virtually no mention of the A. M. & O. in the 
American Bailroad Journal from 1870 to 1876. 

9 Above, p. 27, and note. 

i° The Whig always favored liberal party lines ; so did Kemper, see 
Message, January 1, 1874; above, pp. 38, 48. 

ii Enquirer, July 6, 13, 1877; March 31, 1871. 



MAHONE AND THE BARBOUR BILL 71 

each successive governor and some of his own strongest 
followers. 12 An unfortunate magazine article and the 
farcical pretense at a duel which followed led to the 
charge that his military reputation was made by the 
press and his personal courage was questionable. 13 Sig- 
nificantly enough, most of the old Bourbons and debt 
payers were included in some one of these groups of 
detractors. 

It was probably with the hope of using the office to 
recover his road, now in the hands of a receiver, 14 that 
Mahone began his race for the governorship. Until 
July, the arguments advanced in his behalf were dis- 
tinctive only in the emphasis laid upon the benefits 
derived by the state from his business activities. But 
from the first, as the Norfolk Landmark said, "No radi- 
cal candidate was ever pursued with more remorseless 
severity." Had he not destroyed six millions of state 
assets, blocked large enterprises, and ruined his road? 
Where had he learned statesmanship? Was it not as 
"king of the lobby"? Would he pledge himself not to 
run independently if he failed to obtain the regular 
nomination? The widespread character of this attack 
soon showed that the case was one of "Mahone against 
the field," and that Mahone would lose unless he could 

12 Norfolk Landmark, June 17, 1877; Kichmond Times, October 9, 1895; 
Governor Peirpoint does not appear to have been estranged. 

is W. L. Eoyall, Some 'Reminiscences, p. 82 ; Withers, Autobiography, 
pp. 307 ff. 

1 4 Mahone 's friends contended that this was the result of a conspiracy 
between a representative of English bondholders of the A. M. & O., Bour- 
bons, and the Pennsylvania, C. & O., and B. & O. interests. A desire for 
change of management by the English holders and the good relations of 
Vice-President Wiekham of the C. & O. with the federal and state courts 
and Richmond capitalists are indicated by the American Railroad Journal, 
September, December, 1875; April, June, 1876; October, November, 1877. 
In New Virginia the statement is made that Mahone was offered the 
presidency of the road upon certain conditions. 



72 READJUSTEE MOVEMENT IN VIRGINIA 

effect a diversion. 15 Accordingly, early in July, there 
appeared in the Whig 16 and other friendly papers a letter 
which did not "re-open the debt question," 17 but which 
did mark the beginning of Mahone's antagonism to the 
"debt paying" policy. In this letter he declared, in 
brief, clear fashion, that to continue "in the present path 
of inaction ' ' would mean ruin to both state and creditors ; 
that taxes could not be increased ; and that ' ' It seems to 
me the part of practical wisdom, and in direct pursuit of 
an honorable purpose to deal fairly with the public cred- 
itors, that we should seek and insist upon, urge and if 
necessary demand, a complete readjustment of the debt 
of the commonwealth and of the annual liabilities there- 
under which shall be within the certain and reasonable 
capacity of the people to pay." Defining his position 
somewhat further, in another letter 18 he declared ' ' diver- 
sion" 19 of the school funds not only a violation of the 
constitution but also bad public policy and contrary to 
the wishes of the people. For free schools, he argued, 
were necessary for the children of soldiers and, signifi- 
cantly, for ' ' the large class of persons recently admitted 
to the privileges of citizenship." 

"The very letter for the times — clear, manly, bold 
. . . , " wrote Colonel Fulkerson, 20 from the ' ' Southwest ' ? 

15 See, for example, Whig, March 26 (quoting Staunton Virginian) , 
April 23, 21 (quoting Farmville Mercury) ; Dispatch, April 6, 30, May 11, 
June 27, July 2, 5 (quoting Gordonsville Gazette) ; Norfolk Landmark, 
June 19, 20, 1877. 

is The letter was addressed to M. M. Martin, Charlotte, C. H. 

it Above, cf. pp. 58 ff. ; Dispatch, July 7, 11 (noting articles by Euffin 
in Virginia Patron, and Southern Planter, and the talk of local candidates) ; 
Whig, April 17 (Hunter letter). 

is To Major Alfred E. Courteney, of the Eichmond school board, under 
date June 29, 1877. 

is Above, p. 62. 

20 Whig, October 15, 1882. Massey says that Fulkerson gave Mahone 
a copy of Debts and Taxes and that Mahone was converted thereby, Auto- 
biography. 



MAHONE AND THE BARBOUR BILL 73 

on the appearance of the first of these declarations. "It 
will elect you governor." The election of delegates had 
proceeded too far, however, for any such decisive result 
to be possible. Still, great interest was aroused. The 
Enquirer, speaking for the extreme Bourbon faction, 
even encouraged the suggestion that the nomination of 
Mahone might mean the union of the debt-paying Con- 
servatives with the Republicans, 21 for it deemed these 
letters an appeal to the radical spirit manifesting itself 
all over the country and, because "levelled at property," 
an offspring of the "French principles of '93. " 22 The 
Dispatch, more diplomatically, tried to break their force 
by insisting that there was nothing original in Mahone 's 
suggestions, that the convention would, of course, decide 
what should be done in these matters, and that the nomi- 
nee would have to abide by its decision. 23 Soon it 
appeared that "readjustment" had more partisans than 
"debt payment." All but one of the other candidates 
declared for it, though with vague qualifications. 24 How 
a readjustment could be obtained was the question. 
Mahone had said, "If necessary, demand"; did he mean 
to compel creditors to compromise? And if so, would 
not this be repudiation ? This question Mahone shrewdly 
left unanswered. 
Both the earlier and the later phases of the prelimi- 

21 See quotation from New York Tribune, July 29. 

22 July 25, 27, 31. The Lynchburg Virginian and the Lexington Gazette 
held similar views. 

23 On the morning of the publication of the debt letter, the Dispatch 
editorially favored debt action by the convention. This, it declared (July 
14), was done without knowledge of the letter. It never published the 
letter. 

24 Only Terry flatly declared for payment of the ' ' last dollar. ' ' For 
views of candidates see Dispatch, July 10 (Lee), 31 (Taliaferro and Hol- 
liday) ; Whig, July 13 (Terry); Enquirer, August 2 (Daniel). 



74 READJUSTEE MOVEMENT IN VIRGINIA 

nary campaign were reflected in the convention. 25 Four- 
teen hundred delegates, August weather, free liquor, and 
unrestrained eloquence marked the celebration by elastic 
spirits of a victorious party policy. Mahone, on the 
other hand, was prepared to fight, and there was a dan- 
gerous enthusiasm and confidence among his young floor 
leaders, Wise, Stringfellow, Cameron, and Riddleberger. 
Uniting with other "forcible" readjusters, for the debt 
views and the gubernatorial preferences of the delegates 
did not always coincide, he endeavored to have the plat- 
form adopted first. But Daniel, Holliday, and Lee 
marshalled their forces in joint caucus and prevented 
this innovation. In the balloting, Mahone at first led, 
his strength coming chiefly from the "Southside" but 
with significant additions from all parts of the state, that 
is, from the "solid business men" of Norfolk, the "ward- 
heelers of Richmond," and counties wherein the per- 
sonal influence of a lieutenant was predominant. Then 
Daniel forged ahead, the readjuster "Southwest" swing- 
ing to him when its favorite was dropped, rather than to 
the former "railroad king," who had once disappointed 
them. 26 Thereupon Mahone in spectacular fashion threw 
his strength almost en masse to the Valley candidate, who 
consequently received the nomination. By this maneu- 
ver Mahone not only established "claims" upon Colonel 
Holliday and the Valley but also made the nomination 
appear colorless from the viewpoint of readjustment. 
Colorless, too, was the platform which urged the use of 
"all just and honorable means of bringing about an 
adjustment of the obligations of the Commonwealth 
which will bring the payment of interest upon the debt 

25 Enquirer, Whig, Dispatch, August 5, 10. Under the editorship of 
James Barron Hope, the Landmark was strongly for Mahone, understand- 
ing that Mahone was not for repudiation. 

26 In not extending the A. M. & O. to Cumberland Gap. 



MAHONE AND THE BARBOUR BILL 75 

within the resources of the state derived from the pres- 
ent rate of taxation, and so do justice to all classes of 
our creditors." But it was significant that at last the 
Conservative party had taken a stand on the debt 
question. 

Since the Republicans made no nomination for state 
offices, Colonel Holliday and his colleagues were not 
called upon during the ensuing campaign to interpret 
the Conservative platform. 27 Again, therefore, the 
matter was referred to the legislative districts. 28 Here 
confusion reigned. 

Early as 1870, we find Conservatives standing for 
office as Independents. 29 The chief cause of this phenom- 
enon was the temptation to bolt offered to numerous 
office-seekers by the eagerness of the negro minority to 
vote against regular Conservative nominees. One might 
not become a Radical and retain his social standing; but 
under the Conservative policy of liberal lines and a 
single paramount issue 30 one might occasionally bolt and 
yet retain the brand of "Conservatism." The favorite 
excuse for bolting was "ring rule" and "court-house 

27 In his letter of acceptance Colonel Holliday merely expressed the hope 
that the people would choose men for the legislature who "have in view 
the memories and the resources of Virginia," as "on them in chief measure 
will fall the work of solving this question," Enquirer, September 1. The 
Enquirer commented (September 2): "If [the letter] means any thing it 
is that the writer appreciates the necessity for a canvass of the state debt 
question within the party." The readjusters, however, saw in it a pledge 
to leave the decision to the people expressing themselves through the legis- 
lature. Cf. Riddleberger in Whig, March 9, 1880. 

28 Whig, August 31, September 1 ; Dispatch, July 31. 

z^Whig, November 11; Enquirer (quoting Lynchburg Virginian), 
November 11, 1870; Dispatch, November 2, 3, 6, 10, 1875; Knight v. 
Johnson, Sen. Jour., 1875-1876, Doc. 13; "Personal Recollections." For 
dislike of Independents, cf. George F. Hoar, Autobiography, I, p. 313; 
F. Curtis, The Republican Party, last chapter; W. L. Fleming, Civil War 
and Reconstruction in Alabama. 

so Above, pp. 37, 48. 



76 READJUSTEE MOVEMENT IN VIRGINIA 

cliques." There was much truth, beyond doubt, in the 
implied charge. For with the reaction against Radical 
rule, beginning as early as 1871, power had passed very 
naturally to old leaders and old families, and there the 
' l Confederate cult ' ' tended to keep it. Since this leader- 
ship, whether unduly influenced by the bondholding 
interests or not, was somewhat self -centered and neglect- 
ful of the wishes of the people, the Independents had 
pretty generally advocated whatever appeared "popu- 
lar" or savored of "reform." 31 

Now in 1877, the conditions which had in the past 
called Independents into existence, prevailed to an 
unusual degree. 32 The disorganized state of the Repub- 
lican party 33 rendered negro minorities unprecedentedly 
available. Mahone men were complaining, not with- 
out reason, of much unfair treatment in the con- 
vention primaries. The nation-wide labor agitation 
was affecting Virginia cities. 34 Saloon-keepers had a 
special grievance in the Moffett "punch bill," which 
Mahone, appreciating their power, had taken pains to 
characterize as "class legislation." 35 The varied pro- 
gram of the more than six hundred granges had created 
business antagonisms, which, with some concealment, 
were transforming themselves into political factions. 38 
And to the confusion caused by all this was added the 
doubtful meaning of the Conservative platform. 37 The 
cool-headed Dispatch admitted that "the war brought 

si Above, p. 65. 

^Landmark, April 8, May 25; Whig, July 7, 13 (quoting Portsmouth 
Enterprise); Dispatch, July 9, 27; August 3; Enquirer, July 25; November 
4, 6, 27. 

33 Below, p. 38. 

3* The Whig sympathized with this move, August 15. 

35 Letter on the debt, above. 

so ' < Personal Eeeollections. ' ' 

st On October 7, the Enquirer printed correspondence between Major 
James Dooley and Gen. Joseph E. Anderson, both of Eichmond, the former 



MAHONE AND THE BARBOUR BILL 77 

changes in the moral sensibilities of the people," and 
feared that " agitation only tends to increase the public 
indifference to public honor." On the other hand the 
Whig printed, with evident approval, the opinion of an 
observant correspondent that the Conservative party "is 
dead, ' ' because its leaders either did not know the proper 
limitations of the words "public faith" and "inde- 
pendent judiciary" or "did not choose, from whatever 
cause, to face the plutocracy that aspires to control, 
even though it ruin, the people of the state. ' ' 38 

Such conditions were necessarily reflected in the 
legislative campaigns. Duff Green in the Stafford-King 
George district, and J. L. Powell in Spottsylvania began 
Independent attacks on the Fredericksburg "ring." 
Richmond and Lynchburg had Working Men's tickets. 
In Henrico, Branch and Atkinson both stood as Con- 
servatives, one for payment of the "last dollar," the 
other for no increase of taxes. In Albemarle, Massey 
was the regular nominee for the Senate, while Inde- 
pendents upheld his debt views against the regular 
nominees for the House. The Dispatch opposed Massey 
because he had once been an Independent, but supported 
General Starke in Brunswick because, though an Inde- 
pendent, he was for debt payment. In some counties, 
such as Pittsylvania and Augusta, the Conservatives do 
not appear to have made any formal nominations. An 
analysis of the election returns show that twenty-two 
Independents were elected to the House and that the 
idea of readjustment had won a sweeping victory. 39 

the author of the Conservative platform, the latter chairman of the com- 
mittee on resolutions, -which showed that neither of them understood the 
debt plank to endorse "forcible" readjustment, nor, indeed, anything 
similar to the later "Barbour bill" (below). 

38 See Dispatch, March 20; Whig, August 19, 1878. 

so The ' ' Southwest ' ' was solid and the Valley nearly solid. Some of the 
negroes voted for Independents (who were generally for readjustment), 



78 READJUSTEE MOVEMENT IN VIRGINIA 

But whether these results rested upon some deep-seated 
feeling of dissatisfaction with old methods and issues, 
as is indicated by the setting aside of old leaders such 
as William Smith and John Letcher, or upon mere 
intrigue, as is suggested by the lightness of the vote, is 
not clear. Nor is it certain, on account of the vagueness 
of the Conservative platform and the confusion of issues 
in the local campaigns, just what kind of readjustment 
was endorsed. 40 

With the assembling of the legislature in December, 
1877, the fiscal program of the readjusters became some- 
what clearer. From the House finance committee came 
the "Barbour bill," 41 which received the support of 
virtually all the Republicans and Independents and a 
majority of the Conservatives voting. 42 In its preamble 
this bill declared that "the preservation of the state 
government is the first necessity; the constitutional 
obligation to support the system of public schools, the 
second; and the payment of the present rate of interest 

and some for General Mahone, who consistently supported the regular 
ticket. 

to Whig, August 29, September 1, 3, November 12, 16, December 18; 
Dispatch, July 9, November 9, 11, 12, 15; Enquirer, November 4, 27; 
Virginia Star, October 8, November 10; Nation, November 1. 

4i So called from James Barbour (below) chairman of the House finance 
committee. This committee was appointed by the speaker, H. C. Allen, 
of the Valley, whom a readjuster conference had endorsed and sustained 
in full Conservative caucus. There were several such conferences, sup- 
posedly secret, Dispatch and Whig, December 5, 6, 10, 13, 18, 1877. The 
citation is from the governor's veto message, op. cit. 

42 House vote : aye, 20 Independents, 8 Eepublicans, 43 Conservatives ; 
no, 1 Eepublican, 39 Conservatives. Voting affirmatively were the Conser- 
vatives Farr, Fowler, B. W. Lacy, D. A. Grimsley, Paul, Phlegar, H. C. 
Slemp, Hoge, Tyler; and the Independents T. L. Michie, L. E. Harvie, and 
P. B. Starke. Prominent in opposition were: Jos. E. Anderson, W. W. 
Henry, W. T. Taliaferro, Thos. S. Bocock, Marshall Hanger, John Echols, 
John T. Lovell, Eobert Eyland, Wm. B. Taliaferro. The negative vote 
was strongest in the cities, Eichmond and Norfolk being solidly negative, 
House Jour., 1877-1878, p. 284; Sen. Jour., p. 296. 



MAHONE AND THE BARBOUR BILL 79 

on the amount claimed as the principle of the public 
debt, the third." Economic conditions, it continued, 
forbade an increase of taxes. Therefore, of each fifty 
cents collected through the general property tax, twenty- 
five must go to the support of the government, ten to 
the schools, and fifteen to debt interest; and the parts 
thus set aside for the government and the schools must 
be paid in money. But Governor Holliday, deeming this 
bill only an attempt to rob the creditors and a transfer 
of the "vexed and vexing question from the legislature 
to the courts," promptly vetoed it. 43 Thereupon, with 
the treasury empty and the banks refusing to lend, and 
with the Conservative party in danger of disruption, 44 
moderate men came into control, as in 1872. These 
moderates, however, could suggest nothing except an 
appeal to the creditors for a compromise, the terms of 
which they embodied in the "Bocock-Fowler Act." 45 

That the motive behind the Barbour bill was only in 
part fiscal is also clear. The wild talk of a "moneyed 
aristocracy created by office-holders" and the suspicion 
cast upon their integrity, the complaint of the seduction 
of readjuster legislators by the "money rings," the 
refusal to amend the Moffett act so as to make it efficient, 
the suggestion of a constitutional convention to abolish 
the veto and revise the debt — all of these reflected the 
discontent of the preceding campaign. 46 Moreover, a 

*3 House Jour., p. 425. 

44 Below. 

45 Act of March 14, 1878; Dispatch and Whig, March 14, 15; Whig, 
March 6, 1878 (statement of auditor). The auditor was directed {Acts, 
1877-1878, p. 237) to pay the "diverted" school funds in quarterly cash 
installments, but he interpreted this to mean, if the cash could be spared, 
Eeport, 1878. 

**Whig, December 12, 1877; January 3, 30; February 7, 12; March 
2, 15, 1878; Dispatch, December 6, 7, 1877. Thirty-five thousand dollars of 
bonds were reported to have been abstracted and funded a second time, 



80 READJUSTEE MOVEMENT IN VIRGINIA 

determination to control the Conservative party or to 
disrupt it was indicated when the readjusters not only 
admitted Independents to their conferences but com- 
pelled the full Conservative caucus to do likewise. 47 
Most appropriately, the Enquirer, which had so con- 
sistently preached against "radicalism" and demanded 
the drawing of strict party lines, expired with 1877. 

Immediately after the adjournment of the legislature 
there began a series of secret conferences among leading 
readjusters. 48 As a result General Mahone sent to 
readjuster legislators a circular letter to be signed and 
returned for publication over their joint signatures. 
This circular declared that both the veto of the Barbour 
bill and a recent decision of the state supreme court 
reaffirming the binding force of the Funding Act and 
in effect demanding that taxes be increased were in 
direct defiance of the will of the people taken in accord- 
ance with the Conservative platform of the year before, 
and it urged the people "to take measures to give 
efficiency and effect to your will, by public meetings, to 
be held as you may elect, and the organization of 
committees for each representative [Congressional] 
district." As "principles of faith," it advised: the 
sovereignty of the people of the state in matters of 
taxation, expenditures, and schools ; reform and economy 
in administration ; and a constitutional convention. 

The immediate purpose of these activities was prob- 

but this was the result of an earlier defalcation, Sen. Jour., 1877-1878, 
Docs. 4, 6. 

4 7 Op. cit. 

** Dispatch, July 5; Whig, July 10, 1878. Two committees acted in the 
matter. The first consisted of H. H. Harrison, Lewis E. Harvie, B. W. 
Lacy (members of the legislature), and A. Moseley, W. H. Mann, Wm. 
Mahone (identified with the Whig). These activities were suspected but 
not definitely known until the Dispatch published (July 5) the circular with 
the accompanying ' ' confidential letter. ' ' The letter requested a cash 
contribution. 



MAHONE AND THE BAEBOUR BILL 81 

ably the election of readjuster Congressmen in the fall by 
identifying the state issue with the national Greenback 
movement on the ground that both were against ''money 
rings" and their allies the courts. Thus the Whig's 
platform embraced "forcible and irrepressible Readjust- 
ment of the state debt ' ' and readjustment of the national 
debt by paying it in greenbacks, together with the 
requirement of unanimity for setting aside a law as 
unconstitutional in either state or federal courts and the 
thorough purging of both from all impurities "personal 
or judicial." 49 At first extreme debt payers and "hard 
money ' ' men, relying on their control of the Conservative 
party machinery, were for accepting this challenge and 
fighting it out on strictly party lines. 50 A calm survey 
of the individual districts, however, showed clearly that 
such a course would probably mean Independent or 
Radical success in each. 51 On the other hand, there were 
many readjusters who were unwilling to desert the 
Conservative party for that of the " Greenbackers, " 
and some who thought a better fight could be made on 
the state issue alone. 52 As the campaign progressed, 
leading debt payers,, notably the sitting members of 
Congress, endorsed Greenback ideas in a more or less 
qualified manner. 53 And so the movement for identify- 
ing the state issue with the national Greenback move- 
ment failed. Only two readjusters, and these of the 
moderate type, were elected to Congress. 

Details of the campaign, however, show how thor- 
ns May 31, March 20, April 3, 28, July 12. 

so For example, the Richmond State and the Lexington Gazette, 
si Dispatch, July 12. 
a 2 Dispatch, May 30, July 12. 

™Whig, August 26 (R. L. T. Beale), 27 (Daniel); September 6 (John- 
ston). Only "Ran" Tucker was out and out for "hard money." General 
Johnston was a ' ' gold greenbacker. ' ' All the candidates except these two 
satisfied the Whig on the national issue. 



82 READJUSTER MOVEMENT IN VIRGINIA 

oughly the forces of social and political discontent were 
disrupting the Conservative organization. In the Rich- 
mond district, John S. Wise seemed to have a clear field. 
But he belonged to the local Mahone faction which 
had long been fighting Gen. Bradley T. Johnson as an 
ardent funder and "free" railroad man, and, the Whig 
insisted, a too skilful manager of party conventions. 
Accordingly, friends of General Johnson persuaded 
Gen. Joseph E. Johnston to become a candidate in the 
belief that Wise would not oppose his old commander. 
This belief proved correct. But the Whig in disgust 
supported Newman, the " Greenback" candidate, alleg- 
ing as an excuse that Johnston was not acceptable to the 
people, as shown by the smallness of the primary vote. 54 
In the Valley, John T. Harris, a moderate advocate of 
readjustment and greenbacks, was opposed by John 
Paul, a more ardent advocate, and by Gen. John Echols, 
who was a debt payer and "hard money" man. Echols 
withdrew in Harris's favor, but Paul fought it out 
independently. The banner district for confusion, how- 
ever, was in the "Southwest." Here, debt payers said, 
the Mahone-Fulkerson-Blair idea was to use the local 
officials to supplant the existing party organization. 
Part of their forces, however, were diverted by Fayette 
McMullin who ran as a Conservative-Independent- 
Greenbacker and advocate of federal construction of 
the Cumberland Gap railroad. At the nominating con- 
vention a resolution endorsing greenbacks and readjust- 
ment was voted down, whereupon the backwoodsmen 
left and Col. John B. Richmond was named over 
two other aspirants. Colonel Richmond soon declared 

nJVMg, August 2, September 26; Eoyall, Some Reminiscences; "Per- 
sonal Recollections" (of Mr. Eoyall). Wise had been associated with 
Edgar Allen as counsel for Piatt, Republican, against John Goode, 
Goode Recollections. 



MAHOXE AND THE BARBOUR BILL 83 

himself for "honest" readjustment and greenbacks. 
General Xewberry as an Independent-Greenbacker, a 
regular Republican, and an Independent Republican 
completed the list of candidates. 55 

Soon after the elections, there was organized in Rich- 
mond a "society to preserve the credit of the state." 
It was composed of thirty-nine leading citizens, among 
whom were several representative ministers and two 
Republican judges. In its open address, this asso- 
ciation proposed that similar affiliated societies, without 
specified restriction as to party or race, should be 
formed throughout the state, and that each should select 
and support a "debt paying" candidate for the legis- 
lature the following year. The gist of the argument 
advanced was that an increase of twenty cents in taxes 
(only a ten per cent increase in the total tax in many 
counties) would meet all the state's needs, including a 
sinking fund. "The work proposed is grand," declared 
the Dispatch, and the editor of the State was among the 
associators. But the Whig poured upon the "39," and 
especially upon its "D. D." members, the vials of its 
wrath. 50 Outside of Richmond the move seems to have 
been regarded by the Conservatives as a mistake, for 
it was not only in direct opposition to the pledge of 
readjustment without increase of taxes, but it also 
frankly substituted a fiscal issue for old party lines and 
constituted ministers, bondholders, and federal officials, 
directors in a matter which people had come to consider 
chiefly political. Though the plan soon proved abortive, 
it is significant as showing the loosening of old party 
ties in the face of the new economic and moral issues, 

55 Dispatch and Whig, 1878, passim, especially August 10, 12, and early 
November numbers. 

56 It persistently published (e.g., December 17) the amount of coupons 
used in payment of taxes by the " D. D. " members. 



84 EEADJUSTEE MOVEMENT IN VIRGINIA 

and as affording a convenient pretext the year following 
for the organization of a Readjuster political party. 57 

Thus, in 1877 and 1878, a re-division of political 
parties along economic and perhaps social lines seemed 
imminent. The state was virtually bankrupt. There 
was much talk of "brokers" and " money rings," of 
"court-house cliques" and "Bourbons"; and a tendency 
to set aside old leaders was manifesting itself. Inde- 
pendents abounded, representing every phase of dis- 
content, but always opposing the "debt payers." The 
Republican party was thoroughly disorganized. The 
overgrown Conservative party, at last forced to face 
the debt issue, had straddled it. An attempt at "com- 
pulsory readjustment" of the debt, thwarted by the veto 
of the new governor, was succeeded by a campaign for 
the identification of readjustment with greenbackism as 
movements of "the people" against the "rings" and 
"their allies," the courts. In all of this activity the 
leading spirit seemed to be William Mahone, whom 
(according to his friends) the rings and the Bourbons 
had robbed of his railroad and defeated for the governor- 
ship in 1877 through "bulldozing" and "trickery." 

57 Kobert Beverly was president, A. H. Drewry, vice-president ; William 
L. Eoyall, fast friend of Bradley T. Johnson and attorney for the bond- 
holders, was secretary. Eoyall appears to have been the leader. The 
federal judges were E. W. Hughes and Alexander Eives. Among the 
ministers were M. D. Hoge, Joshua Peterkin, J. L. M. Curry, J. B. Jeter, 
and Andrew Broadus. Gen. W. C. Wickham, Eepublican and C. & O. 
official, was a member of the executive committee, Dispatch, November 29; 
Whig, November 30, December 5, 1878; Dispatch and Whig, January, 1879 
(extracts from state press). Dr. Curry spoke on "Law and Morals" in 
Mozart Hall, Eichmond. The rejection by the Law Journal of an able 
paper attacking the constitutionality of the Funding Act by James Lyons, 
of Eichmond, and the attitude of the Enquirer (above) illustrate the feel- 
ings of debt payers at this time. 



CHAPTER VII 

THE "McCULLOCH ACT," AND THE STATE'S 
CAPACITY, 1878-1879 

The compromising spirit manifested by the legisla- 
ture in the spring of 1878 1 had, by the beginning of its 
second session, December, 1878, spread to the creditors 
of the state. Consequently, Governor Holliday was 
able to transmit, with favorable comment, two propo- / 
sitions, one from prominent New York bankers and 
brokers, 2 the other from the Council of Foreign 
Bondholders, of London. In striking contrast to the 
attitude of four years previous, 3 both pledged their 
efforts to secure from all creditors a readjustment of 
the debt on the basis of equity to all and a rate not 
exceeding four per cent. 4 To reconcile differences in 
the two propositions and to provide a practical method 
of giving them effect, the New York interests, acting 
through The Funding Association of the United 
States of America, 5 united with the British Council on 

i Above, p. 79. 

2 L. G. and G. C. Ward signing for Baring Bros. & Co., August Belmont 
for himself and the Bothschilds, Brown Bros. & Co., Richard Irvin & Co., 
and Chas. M. Fry, president of the Bank of New York. 

3 Above, p. 52. 

* Governor, Message, December 4, 1878. 

s Formed about a year previous to handle such debts by Hugh 
McCulloch, officers of the First National Bank of New York, J. P. Morgan, 
and others, Dispatch, January 3, 1879 (quoting New York Times). The 
British organization included very distinguished names, Sen. Jour., 1879- 
1880, Doc. 23. For McCulloch 's recent residence in England and friendli- 



86 READJUSTEE MOVEMENT IN VIRGINIA 

a third proposition, which after various changes 6 
(designed to give the appearance of concession, the 
opposition said) became the "McCulloch bill." 

Under this bill the debt was divided into two classes : 
class I embraced consols and convertible registered 
bonds; class II consisted of peelers and one-half of the 
interest unpaid since 1871. These classes might be 
funded, in the proportion of at least two of the former to 
one of the latter, 7 into new 10-40 bonds bearing three, 
four, and five per cent interest for periods of ten, twenty, 
and thirty years respectively, with tax-receivable cou- 
pons attached, neither bonds nor coupons being taxable. 
The exclusive privilege of funding was given to the 
British Council and the New York Association above 
mentioned on condition that they file acceptance of - the 
terms by May 1, 1879, and fund at least eight millions by 
the following January 1 and at least five millions semi- 
annually thereafter. With the new bonds should be 
issued certificates for West Virginia's third of the 
original debt, acceptance of which constituted a complete 
and final release of Virginia's obligation therefor. In. 
and after 1885 a special two cent tax was to be levied 
for the sinking fund, this fund to be used " annually 
or oftener" for the retirement of the "ten-forties." 
To insure prompt interest payment the auditor was 
authorized (under the "Allen amendment") 8 to make 

ness to the South, see Fleming, Documentary History of Reconstruction, 
I, p. 390; McCulloch, Men and Measures, p. 420. For McCulloch's account 
of the bill see New York Tribune, February 5, 1881. 

s See Acts, 1878-1879, p. 29; Sen. Jour., op. cit.; Whig, February 6, 7; 
Commercial and Financial Chronicle, January 18, 25; February 15, 1879; 
Ruffin, Facts, etc.; Ruffin, Scrap-Boole, I (L. E. Harvie in Wytheville 
Dispatch, September 4, 1879) ; FulTcerson Papers (memoranda of Colonel 
Fulkerson). 

" The ratio of the outstanding consols and peelers. 

8 Incorporated as section 12 of the bill. 



the "Mcculloch act" 87 

temporary loans and, if unable to do so, to sell, at not 
less than seventy-five, certificates bearing no interest 
but receivable for taxes. 

Meantime there slumbered in a committee another bill, 
introduced by D. W. Henkel, a Valley readjuster, which 
required county and city collectors to reserve out of the 
taxes paid them in cash, subject to the order of school 
officials only, three-fourths of the county's or city's 
estimated quota of the state's appropriation to schools. 
The need for such protection was now very pressing, for 
half the schools were closing and 100,000 pupils of the 
year before were being kept at home. 9 Accordingly, 
when the McCulloch bill had taken shape, the Henkel 
bill reappeared and, receiving the support of both school 
partisans and McCulloch bill men, passed both houses 
without recorded opposition. 10 

March 28, 1879, the McCulloch bill became a law. Its 
passage was attended by no such scandal as that of the 
Funding Act. 11 On the contrary, debate was full and 

9 State Superintendent, Reports, 1878, 1879. In 1877, 73 local super- 
intendents reported a favorable change of public sentiment as to the 
schools, 37 no change, and none an unfavorable change; in 1878 the figures 
were 46, 44, and 19, respectively. For hostility to the schools see "Civis" 
in Beligious Herald, January, February, 1878; Dr. Dabney in the Southern 
Planter, January, February, 1879; Lynchburg newspapers, spring of 1879 
(a local fight). 

io Acts, 1878-1879, p. 264; Dispatch, October 29 (W. W. Henry), October 
21 (editorial); Whig, October 17 and 31 (Ruffner), 1879; February 13, 
1885 ("New Virginia"); Ruffin, Mahoneism Unveiled. Henkel is thus 
reported in the Shenandoah Herald, March 5 : " With the guarantee of 
this house that the bill providing funds for the public schools [the Henkel 
bill] will be passed, it affords me pleasure to support the proposition made 
to the General Assembly by the creditors of the state. ' ' The Allen amend- 
ment (above) was a counteracting concession. Of twenty members who 
supported both the Barbour bill and the McCulloch bill, eighteen supported 
the Henkel bill. 

ii Above, p. 30. 



88 READJUSTEE MOVEMENT IN VIRGINIA 

free. 12 The vote 13 of the two houses was large, 104 to 59. 
Consistently, the Independents voted against it, 21 to 1. 
The Republicans divided evenly. Party considerations 11 
and a belief that the bill contained the best attainable 
terms were the influences which, in varying proportions, 
won the Conservatives, 99 to 35. 

This legislation, the McCulloch and Henkel Acts, 15 
represented the triumph of that moderate move for 
readjustment which had manifested itself in 1871 and 
1874. It discarded on the one hand the ideas of "state 
sovereignty," "will of the people," 1 " and antagonism 
to "money rings"; on the other, it recognized the actual 
fiscal situation and the existence of new popular neces- 
sities. If unhampered by political considerations, would 
it settle the debt problem? 17 

A full execution of the McCulloch Act would neces- 
sarily bring the state very great fiscal advantages: 
immediate relief from the pressure of accumulated 
interest and reduction of the interest rate by one- 
half, uniformity of obligations, equality of creditors, 
and unquestioned release from obligation for West 
Virginia's share; ultimately, a saving of at least 
$26,000,000 18 in interest. Compared with these any loss 

12 Contra, Whig, April 3, 4, 1879. Some debt payers, though they sup- 
ported the act, boldly pointed out serious objections. For example, 
Senator Bradley T. Johnson declared it would necessitate an increase of 
taxes (Whig, October 28, 1879), and the State said the Allen amendment 
meant ' ' bankruptcy. ' ' 

is Sen. Jour., 1878-1879, p. 463; House Jour., p. 546. 

n Below, chs. 8, 9. 

]r, To these should be added the Moffett liquor law amendment (Acts, 
1878-1879, p. 36) previously rejected (above, p. 79). 

is For a proposition by Senator Paul to submit the McCulloch act to a 
vote of the people see Whig, February 25, 1879. 

it The following analysis is the author's. The partisan arguments are 
given below, ch. 10. 

is The Dispatch's estimate (February 3, 13, 1879) plus one-half the 



THE "McCULLOCH ACT" 80 

of U ' an bonds or coupon*, the increase in the 
principal by some two millions, and the annoyance 
arising from the tax-receivable character of coupons 
negligible. 
But a full execution ot the act depended upon I 
ability and good faith of the funding monopolist)! on 
the one hand, and upon the ability oi tate to meet 

the new interest promptly on the other. 

That the first of these requisites existed seems un- 
questionable in new of the business standing of the 

-; -.. the ad i term i offered credit* 

especially the non-residenl - I the endorse ':.-. 

the scheme by the state and national administration 
and the great bulk of the press, ret it is to be remem- 
bered that the association ■ ■ 

no penalty for non-fulfillment of contrad 

eellation, which would noi affect operal 
concluded by them. Readj at the time doubi 

abilil the agents as rell as their good intentic 

t the act iras only a toefe job i 
For ' -. fluctuatioB . and the 

ai&on of funding on an 

ment gave much . ai rant. 21 
The second requisite as much more 

pre. The abilil rid defaull 

-•-.: a/^rued to IS78 • •. ..d be 

! I I : ■■..-:■; 

i»Owmm% probablj s :. ■•. -. . •..-: .'.'.•-./ Report, IS74; 

William E. Rojal] B 0/ ffei Virginia Debt '.:'■■■. 

I would . 

had sold I 

• : i-. . S7fi :-.".' i ' - ■• 

I7, 41 ii .. 



90 EEADJUSTER MOVEMENT IN VIRGINIA 

before the funding should be completed, without resort 
to the endless chain of issuing certificates under the 
Allen amendment, 22 was exceedingly doubtful. For the 
act made no provision for arrearages to schools, colleges, 
and asylums amounting to over a million or for coupons 
amounting to a million and a half, as of February 1, 
1879; the treasury was empty and the banks were not 
disposed to lend. But presuming that the crisis could 
have been passed, could the state pay three per cent on 
the new principal during the next ten years ? Taking as 
a basis of income the revenue of 1878 and assuming that 
bonds held by the colleges and the literary fund would 
be converted, Governor Holliday estimated an annual 
surplus of $350,000; General Mahone, 23 of $115,000. But 
the reassessment of realty next year was generally 
expected to bring decided reduction in revenue; this 
loss Mahone estimated would wipe out the surplus under 
the governor's estimate and leave a decided deficit under 
his. Both the severe pruning in the governor's expense 
estimates 24 and the actual figures of the next year 25 
indicate that Mahone was very nearly correct. Certainly 
the margin was narrow. 

The Conservative platform of two years before had 
declared that there must be no increase of taxes, and 
the elections following had decidedly supported this 

22 In effect, these certificates would be tax-receipts discounted twenty- 
five per cent for cash. They were to be issued in denominations of one 
dollar and above, and offered for sale in each county. 

23 Whig, February 26, 1879. Mahone believed the state would pay three 
per cent on $32,000,000 provided there were no exemptions, monopoly, etc., 
and no future increase in the rate. Below, p. 99. 

2* Message, December 3, 1879. For example, the governor estimated 
$30,000 as the cost of the legislature annually, as compared with $100,000 
from 1850 to 1860, $187,000 from 1869 to 1875, and $120,000 for 1878- 
1879. Also, he put "extraordinary" expenses at the improbably low sum 
of $74,000. Cf. above, p. 54. 

25 Below, p. 144. 



the "Mcculloch act" 91 

view. 26 But the foregoing analysis seems to show very 
clearly that under the new legislation there must be such 
an increase or the schools would remain stationary and 
the needs of the impoverished and afflicted remain 
unmet. Could Virginia stand additional taxation? 

Careful study of a mass of evidence indicates that the 
state, as a whole, had gained decidedly in both popu- 
lation and intrinsic value of property during the decade 
just ending. 27 The debt of counties and municipalities 28 
was but $13,000,000, of which $10,000,000 was owed by 
towns. Though taxes had increased ten per cent, the 
ratio of taxation to true wealth, if the census may be 
trusted, was but .67 as compared with .70 and .62 for 
the average state and the average Southern state 
respectively; and the burden per capita, though half 
that of the former, was but little larger than that of the 
latter. 20 

It had been a great decade for the towns. Thither, 
with the fall of slavery, had shifted the center of social 
life. The distribution of supplies to laborers and small 
farmers through country merchants; the comparatively 
settled labor and social conditions inviting men and 
money from within and without; the concentrating 
tendency of the federal tax on tobacco manufacturing; 

26 Above, p. 78. 

27 Population increased twenty-three per cent according to the tenth 
census. Eeassessment of realty in 1880 showed a decrease of 43 
millions, currency, which would be a small increase in gold value. This, 
owing to popular depression and politics (below, p. 144), was probably too 
small. The tenth census figures of 693 and 409 millions (currency) for 
the "true wealth" in 1870 and 1880 respectively are probably worthless. 
See C. D. Wright, History and Growth of the U. S. Census, pp. 53, 57 
(note), 58, 162, 173. 

28 Tenth Census. 

29 Governor, Message, March 27, 1874; Auditor, Report, 1880; Tenth 
Census, VII, pp. 18, 20. The census estimate apparently fails to include 
$700,000 derived from license taxes. 



92 READJUSTEE MOVEMENT IN VIRGINIA 

consolidation of railroad management and the develop- 
ment of shipping terminals for through traffic — all these 
tended to make the town the business center also. Only 
Petersburg and Fredericksburg of the old towns failed 
to show gains, and many new ones had sprung into 
existence. 30 

By selling off piece after piece of his estate and 
mortgaging the remainder at high rates of interest, the 
large farmer had been able to repair war losses and 
secure improved equipment. 31 Through such sales, 
usually for a small cash payment and a promissory note, 
the number of farms increased 44,668, 32 or 60 per cent, 
which meant that this number of "poor whites" and 
ex-slaves had become independent farmers. Gradually 
the negro had settled down to something like steady 
work. So production increased markedly. 33 But only 
a beginning in adaptation to the new conditions was 
made. Leaders of public thought were too busy with 
race politics, and legislators with railroad wars and 
state finance to provide good roads or agricultural 
schools or even a respectable department of agriculture 
to enable the farmer to meet the competition which rail- 

30 p. A. Bruce, in The South in the Building of the Nation, X, ch. 1 ; 
Arnold, Tobacco Industry, ch. 2; Buffner Papers. Manufacturing capital 
increased from 15 to 27 millions (gold), output from 30 to 51, Tenth 
Census, II, p. xii. For value of figures see Twelfth Census, VII, pt. 1, p. 
xcvii. For influence of tobacco tax see Dispatch, January 15, 1879. Eich- 
mond's exports increased $300,000 from 1878 to 1879. They were chiefly 
tobacco and flour, the latter for South America, ibid., January 1. Norfolk 
had been continually growing, chiefly through shipping and trucking, 
Landmark, January, 1879. Danville and Lynchburg showed an increase 
in realty values of one hundred per cent. Yet all were small towns, Eich- 
mond (the largest) having only some 30,000 inhabitants. 

3i Above, pp. 8, 25, 44. County ' ' land books ' ' and court records are 
eloquent of the process. 

32 Twelfth Census, V, pt. 1, p. 699. Lots under three acres not included 
in the census would probably offset the speculative investments. 

wlbid., pp. 90, 694; Vol. VI, pp. 80, 90. 



the "Mcculloch act" 93 

road extension made inevitable. And so profits were 
possible only when the general level of prices was high. 
But coincidently with these processes came a general 
drop in prices, heavy, long-continued, greater in what 
the farmer could sell than in what he must buy. 34 
Gradually profits disappeared. 35 Laborers were under- 
paid. Few immigrants came to counterbalance the 
fearful drain, especially of young men, to the towns or 
to other states. 36 Land depreciated in value. 37 But the 
mortgage and the promissory note remained the same, 
the interest never failed to accrue. In some places taxes 
were very high, 33 and there was no money to pay them. 
And so the courts were busy ordering sales and the news- 
papers printed columns of delinquent tax payers. 39 Thus 
the market for land almost disappeared, and the new 
farmer was driven to the wall along with the old. 

Now any increase in state taxation would fall pri- 

3* Averages were: 1867-1871, corn 146, wheat 145, tobacco 163; 1877- 
1880, 76, 105, 135, respectively, Aldrich Report (52 Cong., 2 sess., S. E. 
Ill, pp. 36, 104 ff.) ; cf. above, p. 59. 

35 The value of total production was eleven per cent less (gold) in 1880 
than in 1870, Twelfth Census, V, pt. 1, p. 703. See Whig, January 6, 
February 25; Dispatch, February 25, June 13, 1879. 

36 Since the census figures for 1870 include West Virginia, the exact 
changes cannot be given. In 1880, 683,000 natives lived in other states, 
62,000 born outside lived in Virginia. The tenth census (I, pt. 3, p. 479) 
notes the "remarkable tendency" toward outside cities. 

37 Whig, July 8; Dispatch, August 14, 1879; Commissioner of Agricul- 
ture, Reports (especially 1880); "Personal Eecollections. ' ' The sales 
books of James Eoach, auctioneer of Fredericksburg, show that the most 
frequent price in several counties was $2.50 per acre. For areas of greater 
depreciation in 1875 see Map III. 

38 The Whig (August 8, 1879) enumerated the taxes of a man in Pitt- 
sylvania, owning property assessed at $1,000 but worth $500, as follows: 
state tax, $5; county and railroad debt, $6; county and district schools, $2; 
state poll, $1; county poll, 50 cents; total, $14.50. 

39 Whig, July-November, 1879, passim; House Jour., 1878-1879, Doc. 6. 
The Norfolk Landmark had fifteen columns of local delinquents in October, 
the Portsmouth Enterprise {Whig, September 15), four columns. 



94 READJUSTEE MOVEMENT IN VIRGINIA 

marily on the farmer, for after ten years of experiment 
two-thirds of the state's revenue came directly from the 
counties. Any attempt to raise the rate, therefore, 
would probably have led to evasion or to hardships in 
very many individual cases. In either event, the debt 
question would have been as far from settled as ever. 

As a result, therefore, of the fiscal situation and of 
the movements described in the preceding chapter, 
bondholders and leaders of the Conservative party 
united to frame and pass in early 1879 the McCulloch 
and Henkel Acts. The Henkel Act was designed partly 
to protect the schools. But while the McCulloch Act gave 
promise of materially lightening the fiscal burden, there 
was grave doubt whether its terms would be complied 
with by all of the creditors. Moreover, the state could 
hardly have met these terms without serious injury to 
many individuals and continued neglect of important 
economic and social interests already suffering and rest- 
less. The leading classes, however, school men included, 
gave the act remarkably consistent support. 



CHAPTER VIII 
THE " RE ADJUSTER" CONVENTION, 1879 

At the very time of the enactment of the McCulloch 
bill, the elements of dissent were forming a new political 
party for the purpose of defeating that measure. 

On the assembling of the legislature in December, 
1878, it appeared that the defeats already suffered and 
the compromising proposals of creditors had rendered 
some readjustees apathetic: Allen, Moffett, and Fowler, 
in the opinion of Colonel Fulkerson, were "morose, sore- 
headed, offish, ill tempered." 1 But among the rest, 
opinion was unanimous that public sentiment still 
favored the principles of the Barbour bill and ought to 
be organized in its behalf. So on motion of Senator 
John Paul, of the Valley, the drafting of a call for a 
state convention was tentatively authorized. 2 Then, dis- 
persing for the holidays, the readjusters quickly ob- 
tained from local mass meetings, especially in the west, 
an endorsement of the convention idea. 3 Returning, in 
two final conferences, Col. A. Fulkerson presiding as 
usual, they adopted an "Address" drafted by James 
Barbour, chairman of the executive committee. 4 Assert- 
ing that the debt-paying association was "an organized 
party, openly proclaimed," and that its purpose was 

i Memorandum of Col. A. Fulkerson, dated "January, 1879," in Fulker- 
son Papers. See above, pp. 81, 85. 

2 Whig, December 13, 19, 1878. 

3 Whig, January 3, 6, 13 (quoting Bristol News, Salem Register, Rock- 
bridge Register), 16 (for action of Central Greenback Club of Marion). 

* Fulkerson Papers. 



96 READJUSTEE MOVEMENT IN VIRGINIA 

to conduct a "crusade against the people" and force 
them to pay six per cent interest on the whole debt 
while starving their free schools, this address urged 
supporters of the principles of the Barbour bill to 
choose delegates "by county, district, and ward meetings 
as you may see fit to attend a convention of Readjusters ' ' 
in Richmond, February 25, and there "take such 
measures as may seem to you proper to protect your 
imperilled rights and interests as citizens and tax- 
payers." 5 

About one-fourth of the legislature favored this 
action. 6 The "Southwest" furnished 13 of its 26; the 
Valley, 6 of its 20 ; the rest of the state, 24 out of 129. 
The Republicans numbered 4, the Independents, 11. 
Judged on this basis the group had behind it neither 
geographical nor political solidarity. Party ties and 
the possibility of compromise with creditors were too 
strong. But the Whig, assisted by a few small papers, 
labored earnestly in its behalf, emphasizing the social 
note as well as the fiscal. 7 And behind the Whig, but 

sWhig, January 14, 17; Dispatch, January 17, 1879. Fowler and 
Moffett opposed specific reference to the Barbour bill, Fulkerson Papers, 
op. cit. 

c Those italicized below voted against the McCulloch Act, those marked 
(n. v.) did not vote on it. For the convention, Senators Bliss, Chiles, 
Fulkerson, Norton, Paul, Powell (n. v.), Slemp, Ward, Wood; Delegates 
Akers, Barbour, J. B. Carter, Chase, Coleman, Crank, Davidson, Dicker son, 
Evans, Fauntleroy, Ficklin, Frasier, Fulkerson, Hamilton (n. v.), H. H. 
Harrison, Harvie, W. T. James, Kelley, Lady, Lee, McCaul, McConnell, 
McDaniel, J. H. Smith, Spessard, A. J. Taylor, J. Walker, Walsh, J. B. 
White, Witten, Young. Against the convention: Senator Massey ; Dele- 
gates Adams, Bernard, Dance, Fowler, Fry, Fulton, Goode, B. N. Harrison, 
Henkel, Keyser, McMullan, Moffett, Oglesby, Popham, Wright, Speaker 
Allen, Dispatch, January 17; Sen. Jour., p. 463; House Jour., 1878-1879, 
p. 546. 

t The following program illustrates the Whig 's position at this time : 
abolition of the suffrage prerequisite and the whipping post; reduction 
of the burden of taxation, including the excise tax; bitter arraignment of 
the "debt-paying association," especially its "D. D. " members, as 



THE "READJUSTEE" CONVENTION 97 

never showing his hand, was Mahone with the remnants 
of his railroad following, to whose fiscal views "original 
readjusters " were already disposed to yield. 8 

The election of delegates began forthwith and con- 
tinued almost up to convention day, the Whig acting as 
a bureau of information and Samuel Goode as corre- 
sponding secretary of the executive committee. The 
process was necessarily irregular: informal communi- 
cation among local leaders, a mass-meeting on the 
monthly "court-day," and the selection of desirable 
men from each district. Regular party officials appeared 
only in their private capacity. Negroes played little 
part. No rule as to numbers was observed. The Whig 
(promptly reducing its semi-weekly subscription rates) 
desired "a mighty out-pouring of the people." Reso- 
lutions reflecting at once the local situation and the 
editorials of the Whig were generally adopted. Some 
counties deputed members of the legislature; quite a 
number attempted no action. 9 

This process encountered many difficulties. 10 With 
few exceptions the leading newspapers were bitterly 

' ' Pharisees ' ' ; defence of the schools against Bourbon writers and the debt- 
paying policy. 

»Cf. below, January 5, 1878 [1879]. Fulkerson wrote: "I hope you 
will find time at a very early day to write out your idea as to the form of 
that call. If we attempt an organization, it ought to be made a success, 
and if successful, it will lead to an early settlement of the debt, for which 
the people will feel more indebted to you than to any other man in the 
state," Whig, October 15, 1882. In a letter to the Abingdon Standard, 
in Whig, January 13, 1879, Colonel Fulkerson expressed a willingness to 
pay three per cent on a recognized debt of $30,000,000 instead of six per 
cent on $15,000,000, which was his original idea. 

s Whig, Dispatch, January, February, passim. Private papers, now 
inaccessible, would probably show a more extensive central direction and 
so lessen the appearance of spontaneity. 

io Op. cit. 



98 READJUSTEE MOVEMENT IN VIRGINIA 

hostile, 11 and behind these papers (though as yet silent) 
were the regular party central organizations. Ridicule 
was heaped upon the move as the work of chronic bolters 
and agitators, intended to prevent a settlement of the 
debt and to advance their own interests, but likely to 
prove a mere " flash in the pan." The Dispatch main- 
tained, with sudden and undignified changes, a veritable 
black list. 12 Great parade was made of former read- 
justee now supporting the pending fiscal legislation. 
These influences led in some places to apathy, in others 
to "trickery and bull-dozing." Many elected as dele- 
gates refused to serve. In one county, Funders 13 (led 
by the judge of the court, it was said) captured the mass- 
meeting and deputed its Funder legislators. In another, 
the "court-house clique" broke up the meeting. In 
another, negroes were chosen through the efforts of the 
Funder senator, the Richmond opposition proposing the 
plan and furnishing the necessary funds. 14 

On February 25 and 26, some one hundred and 
seventy-five delegates assembled in Mozart Hall, Rich- 
mond. 15 They came from three cities and fifty-nine 
counties, the proportion varying from west to east and 
according to the strength of local leaders. Politically, 

ii The Landmark and a few smaller papers insisted upon according the 
convention the respect due honest men and old allies. 

12 Later separately printed; also printed as an honor roll by the Whig. 

is This name was first used for supporters of the Funding Act, but now 
for supporters of the McCulloch bill, and in general for the opposition to 
the readjuster move. 

a Whig, March 1; "Personal Eecollections " (William L. Royall). 

15 Dispatch, Whig, February 26, 27. These figures are estimates. Only 
a dozen counties whose legislators favored the move were unrepresented; 
22 counties whose legislators were opposed sent delegates. Albermarle, 
home of Massey, sent 23 ; Petersburg, where Mahone and Cameron lived, 13 ; 
New Kent, under the influence of Major V. Vaiden and B. W. Lacy, 13; 
Barbour's county, Culpeper, 6; while one unaccredited delegate from 
Portsmouth spoke for all the populous Norfolk region, and one for the four 
counties of the ' ' Northern Neck. ' ' 



THE "READJUSTEE" CONVENTION 99 

Conservatives of the liberal brand predominated, with 
a striking admixture of Republicans, Greenbackers, and 
Independents of every shade. Socially, there were self- 
made men, aristocrats, country preachers and doctors, 
and politicians of the usual types. 18 From Halifax and 
New Kent came a few negroes. It was a very loquacious 
body ; and the more obscure members did their full share 
of the talking. Opinion differed on the terms of- debt 
settlement: Mahone favored three per cent on thirty- 
two millions, some negroes absolute repudiation. But 
the dominant note was unmistakable: it was a "people's 
convention" assembled in response to a "wail from the 
people" to "crystallize the sentiments of the people and 
enforce them" against the "rings and court-house 
cliques, " " brokers and the broker press. ' ' The interests 
of the white masses and the negroes were one ; and they 
would brook no opposition from treacherous governor 
or hide-bound courts. 

Without serious dissent, a vigorous "Address to the 
People of Virginia" presented by Senator Riddleberger 
was adopted. It declared that the people had always 
desired a definite settlement upon terms as liberal to 
creditors as conditions permitted. To this end they had 
accepted the Conservative pledge of 1877 only to find 
themselves thwarted by the governor. Then arose the 

i« For leaders see below, eh. 9. The following were among those 
reported as present: Albermarle, J. A. Miehie, J. H. Smith, W. H. Wood, 
R. G. Crank; Augusta, D. N. VanLear, Jas. H. Hamilton; Caroline, Thos. 
A. Welsh, S. J. R. White, Dr. Wright; Culpeper, J. W. Bell; Floyd, A. M. 
Dickenson; Giles, W. G. Baine; Highland, John Paul; Hanover, W. M. 
Newman; Henrico, William Taylor; King William, S. D. Gregory; King 
George, Lawrence Taliaferro; Lee, L. S. Fulkerson, H. C. Slemp; Louisa, 
Dr. F. F. Brook; Montgomery, E. Esbridge; New Kent, Dr. J. H. Garliek; 
Nottoway, G. A. Overton; Washington, D. F. Bailey, I. C. Fowler; Warren, 
John Paul; Wise, H. C. Slemp, Rev. Morgan Lipps; Petersburg, A. Rogers, 
Jr., S. Boiling; Roanoke, Dr. A. B. McConnell, Lee Willson; Stafford, 
Duff Green ; Smith, F. M. McMullin, George W. Hubble. 



100 EEADJUSTEE MOVEMENT IN VIRGINIA 

"Debt-paying Association" "to take charge of the 
honor of Virginia, educate you up to the point of virtue 
from which you have back-slided, " and to increase 
taxes so as "to pay six per cent on the whole debt." 
Present conditions, fiscal and economic, "certify your 
inability to assume a higher rate than three per cent, 
either now or at any future date that can be fixed by a 
prudent forecast." The agitation ever since the passage 
of "the iniquitous Funding Bill" shows that to deceive 
the people again, or to over-estimate their capacity 
"would be fatal to that repose by which every consid- 
eration should be secured." Yet, under the McCulloch 
bill, "the attempt is made to deprive you of all real relief 
by a delusive measure, which by exceptions, exemptions 
and discriminations takes back with one hand what it 
purports to yield with the other," perpetuates the most 
objectionable features of the Funding Act and adds 
others, "all cloaked, veiled and tendered under a pre- 
tense of charity." Then the Address, without suggest- 
ing any specific method of settlement, laid down- as 
principles the following points : no liability whatever 
for West Virginia's share ;* interest on "Virginia's 
fair proportion" within the revenue derived from the 
existing rate of taxation after deducting expenses of 
government and charitable institutions economically 
administered and liberal appropriations to public 
schools; no tax-receivable coupons, exemption from 
taxation, discrimination between creditors, or funding 
through agencies not under the state's control; and 
finally, ratification by popular vote, the settlement 
.thereafter being subject to legislative alteration. Not 
prominent, but very noteworthy, was the charge that the 
McCulloch bill' ' ' stubbornly refuses to acknowledge the 
necessity to our state of fitting for their exercise those 



THE " READJUSTEE" CONVENTION 101 

whom the Federal Government invested with all the 
rights, privileges and immunities of citizenship." 

An elaborate plan for permanent organization, like- 
wise presented by Senator Riddleberger, was adopted. 17 
Avoiding the too obvious concentration of power under 
the early Conservative plan and the divided responsi- 
bility under the later, 18 this plan retained the strong- 
features of both. For each Congressional district a 
chairman was to be chosen by the delegates representing 
it in the convention, and these chairmen (vested with 
considerable power in local matters) were to constitute 
the state committee. An executive committee of three 
was to be named by the president of the convention, and 
its chairman was to be (ex officio) chairman of the state 
committee. The plan thus outlined was duly carried 
out and to the important office of chairman of the 
executive committee, the president, Major V; Vaiden, 
appointed General Mahone. 

The Readjuster convention of February, 1879, was 
called for the immediate purpose of opposing the 
McCulloch bill. Care was taken that both the call and 
the proceedings of the convention should appear spon- 
taneous. In membership, it was representative of all 
classes, the great majority being Conservatives, either 
unknown or noted for party irregularity. The Address 
denounced the McCulloch bill as an attempt at deception 
and fraud, declared for no higher taxes, and favored 
public education and charities, partial repudiation, no 

w Riddleberger was chairman of the committee on business, 'which 
handled all important matters except the permanent organization of the 
convention (ef. Bourbon plan, above, p. 20). For president, Mahone 
reported Major V. Vaiden, of New Kent. The temporary officers were 
Capt. Frank S. Blair and Capt. J. H. McCaul. 

is Above, pp. 20, 39, 49. 



102 READJUSTEE MOVEMENT IN VIRGINIA 

exemptions or special privileges, and a popular refer- 
endum. A careful organization after the manner of 
political parties was provided for, and General Mahone 
was appointed chairman of the executive committee and 
thus became the permanent head of the movement. 



CHAPTER IX 
SECTIONS AND LEADERS, 1879 

Thus, under stress of economic and political condi- 
tions, the factions which had arisen among the Conserv- 
atives gradually lost their identity, until in February, 
1879, the old party differences gave way before a clash 
between "Readjusters" and "Funders." 1 Both in the 
inception and in the results of the Readjuster Movement, 
however, one feels the weight of a force that was not 
altogether due to either business or politics. It may be 
well, therefore, to pause at this point for a rapid survey 
of social and political conditions as manifested in each 
of the "sections" into which the state had long been 
divided, and in the attitude and policy of the leaders 
whom these sections followed. 

Beyond the Alleghanies lies a triangular group of 
counties known as the "Southwest." 2 Mountainous and 
possessed of a strong Scotch-Irish element, 3 this section 
was democratic in its habits and was drawn toward 
eastern Tennessee rather than toward eastern Virginia. 4 
Before the war, it had never been largely given to slave- 
holding and in politics it had been always Democratic, 

i The capitalized term "Keadjuster" is here used for the organized 
party, its members, views, etc. The uncapitalized form, ' ' readjuster, ' ' 
represents the movement in general. The same distinction is maintained 
between ' ' Funder ' ' and ' ' funder. ' ' 

- Ambler, Sectionalism; L. P. Summers, History of Southwest Virginia; 
' ' Personal Eecollections. ' ' 

3 There is a smaller German strain. 

* Slaves constituted sixteen per cent of the population according to the 
census of 1860; negroes approximately the same in 1880. 



104 READJUSTER MOVEMENT IN VIRGINIA 

in contrast to the slave-holding and Whiggish tendencies 
of the Tidewater. Personal and party connections, 
however, together with the influence of slave-ownership 
upon its valley leaders and the satisfactory internal 
improvement policy of the state, had tied it strongly 
to the ' ' East. ' ' And so, though unwilling to go out of the 
Union, in 1861, it had declined to unite with West 
Virginia and had heartily supported the Southern cause. 
After the war, the weight of old influences again began 
to be felt. The large old Whig minority, disgusted at 
the prospect of an alliance with its former political foe, 
afforded the Republican party a very considerable 
native white nucleus. 5 The "Southwest" had no worn- 
out lands to be marketed through immigration schemes 
at the state's expense, and no influential moneyed 
centers. It had no ever present negro problem. It 
wanted schools and unrestricted suffrage. It wanted 
money to build railroads and to develop its untouched 
resources of minerals and timber, and it saw that 
this money must come from the North. Self-confident, 
aggressive, and suspicious, it had over and over again 
registered its protest in the legislature against the 
prevailing fiscal policy. 6 But the "East" was diplo- 
matic and generous in the distribution of offices, and 
the "Southwest" remained loyal. Upon the failure 
of the Republican party, however, party ties had 
loosened and the clannish disposition of the mountain 
people asserted itself in personal politics. 7 Dissatisfied, 

s In a total vote of 21,000 in the eighth Congressional district in 1869 
the Eepublicans received 6,260. Only 4,888 negroes were registered. See 
Abingdon, Virginian, in Whig, March 8, 1870, for the feeling as to parties. 

6 Note its vote against the Funding Act and for its repeal, against 
appropriations for debt interest and for Fulkerson's anti-coupon bill; and 
its demand for asylums, Sen. Jour., 1871-1872, p. 88; House Jour., 1874, 
p. 451; ibid., 1874-1875, p. 367; Dispatch, March 18, 1875. 

7 Cf. p. 82. 



f^ 



Parties, 1S73 and 1876 

Conservative 

Republican 

Fluctuating 
Towns 

Sections (ch. ix and n. 33) /WW\A 
Small capitals are abbreviations 
of county names 




SECTIONS AND LEADERS, 1879 105 

democratic, and self-assertive, this section was clearly 
a fit soil for the new party. 

Best known among the Readjusters in this section was 
Col. Abram Fulkerson. 8 Of a family long prominent in 
Washington County affairs, he had been educated at the 
Virginia Military Institute and, having fought through 
the war, had then read law under John W. Johnston. 9 
On the recommendation of Hughes, Mahone had made 
him one of the "incorporators" of the A. M. & 0., and 
thenceforth they had been intimate. Entering the 
legislature in 1871, Fulkerson had forthwith become an 
opponent of the Funding Act and of the makeshift 
policies by which it was supported. 10 To him, as much 
as to Massey, was due the ceaseless agitation for read- 
justment and the "conversion" of Mahone; and it was 
he who engineered the preliminary moves in the organi- 
zation of the new party. 11 He was prepossessing in 
personal appearance, good-natured, witty, hard-working, 
and, above all, shrewd and determined. Mahone called 
him the finest politician in the state; the Dispatch, a 
"dangerous demagogue." To the people of his section 
he now preached, with great effect, of hard times, the 
decaying schools, the lunatics in jail; and of the "proud 
old funders who are tickled by the Yankee bond-holders, 
by the phrase ' honor and credit of the state,' who don't 
pay any taxes, and don't care a damn who does." 

Between the Alleghanies and the Blue Ridge lies the 
"Valley." 12 The upper part contained a notable Scotch- 

s Richmond Tobacco Plant, May 3, 1879; Dispatch, July 9, 1878, October 
23, 1879; Culpeper Times, in Whig, January 24, 1879; Whig, October 15, 
1882; Summers, History of Southwest Virginia; Fulkerson Papers. 

s Below. 

30 But he advocated abolition of the township system. Cf. p. 50. 

ii Above, p. 80; also ch. 8. 

12 Wayland, German Element in the Shenandoah Valley; J. A. Waddell, 
Annals of Augusta County; Buffner Papers. 



106 READJUSTEE MOVEMENT IN VIRGINIA 

Irish element; the lower, an important German strain. 
Physiographically, the former looked toward the 
"Southwest," and the latter toward Maryland and 
Pennsylvania ; mountain passes encouraged both to com- 
municate with the ' ' East. ' ' Like the ' ' East, ' ' the Valley 
contained an aristocracy of landowners and office- 
holders, backed by an increasingly important slave 
system 13 but modified by intellectual traditions in the 
upper region and by racial characteristics in the lower. 
Along the mountain sides flourished a social and eco- 
nomic democracy like that of the ' ' Southwest. ' ' Though 
opposed to secession in 1861, no part of the state had 
more valiantly supported the Southern arms or come 
out of the war with greater loss of men and property. 
Heretofore almost solidly Democratic, 14 it now, during 
Reconstruction days, became solidly Conservative; the 
Republicans could not poll even the full negro vote. 
Already, however, the upper classes had begun to leave 
their country homes and to settle in the little towns. 
Here they formed oases of intelligence and sound 
thinking. But their political strength was lessened. 
Taking advantage of this situation, the Independents 
grew in numbers, 15 and flourished on the vote of the 
negroes and the ' ' odds and ends ' ' of the mountain sides 
and the little towns. The strength of the Valley 
remained, however, in its middle-class farmers. No 
longer confronted by the slave system, these farmers 
were beginning to display again the "homely habits and 
unconquerable industry" which would "gradually 
restore prosperity and intelligence" 16 to the country 

is In 1860, twenty per cent of the population was black. 

14 With the striking exception of the strongly Scotch-Irish county of 
Augusta. 

is Above, p. 38. 

is W. H. Euffner, ' ' Sketches of the Lyle Family, ' ' in Washington and 
Lee Historical Papers, No, 3. 



SECTIONS AND LEADERS, 1879 107 

districts. Though they had no negro problem, were 
suspicious of the eastern towns, despised the land-poor 
planters, and were much afraid of high taxes, they were 
honest, comfortable, and slow to move. Hence the vote 
of the Valley in the legislature had never been decided 
on the chief fiscal issues, and its leaders had often shown 
an uncertain attitude. 17 But Mahone thought that here 
and in the "Southwest" would begin a "ground swell" 
that would sweep the rest of the state. 18 

In this region Harrison Holt Eiddleberger was the 
conspicuous Readjuster leader. 19 Having served well as 
a Confederate soldier and as editor of the staunchly 
Democratic Tenth Legion Banner, he had entered the 
House in 1871, and at thirty-two had become state 
Senator and elector on the Tilden ticket. So far from 
being an "original readjuster," he had opposed the 
attempted repeal of the Funding Act in 1872. But his 
origin, habits, and ambition threw him into opposition 
to the ruling groups and made him champion of the 
masses in his section. Thus we find him fighting the 
Conservative organization and the administration of the 
schools under Ruffner, Conservative and friend of 
public education though he was, apparently because he 
believed that both were too much in the interest of the 
privileged classes. This attitude soon led him to attack 
the fiscal policy which the state had adopted both before 
the war and after, and to endorse the radical doctrine 
that a decision of the courts against the constitutionality 
of a law was not binding unless it was unanimous. 

17 Governor Kemper, Congressman Harris, Speaker Allen, Senator 
Henkel, and to a slighter degree Col. Charles T. O'Ferrall and Governor 
Holliday, illustrate this tendency. 

is Harvie Papers. 

is National Cyclopedia of American Biography ; Enquirer, March 31, 
1875; Whig, December 3, 1874; "Personal Eecollections " ; Buffner 
Papers. 



108 READJUSTEE MOVEMENT IN VIRGINIA 

Next in importance was John Paul, 20 of Rockingham, 
now just forty years of age. Senator Paul boasted that 
he had been "raised between two corn rows," 21 and 
Funders were fond of pointing to his "well-known 
rampancy and extravagance." But he possessed, 
according to his closest political foe, Col. Charles T. 
O'Ferrall, "all the elements of popularity, strong and 
magnetic as a speaker, with a splendid record as a 
soldier and untiring energy." Both of these men had 
studied law, 22 and now Paul was to become Congressman 
and federal district judge; Riddleberger, United States 
Senator. 

East of the Blue Ridge lie the Piedmont, Southside, 
and Tidewater sections. 23 Together they contained two- 
thirds of the state's population, of which one-half was 
black. They differed in soil, climate, and products ; and 
before the war they had often differed in politics. The 
spread of slavery, however, together with the develop- 
ment of inter-communicating trade routes, had knit them 
firmly together under an aristocratic regime. After the 
war these sections remained united because their funda- 
mental problems were the same. Of these problems, 
race adjustment took precedence; and the views of this 
region became the policy of the state. These views were 

20 Congressional Directory, 47 Congress; O'Ferrall, Forty Years; Elam, 
Mahone and Virginia. 

2i The reply said to have been made to this assertion of Paul is quite in 
harmony with the rough and ready discussions of the time: "A pumpkin- 
head, by G— d!" 

22 Paul studied law at the University of Virginia after the war. 

23 For distribution of the races see map. The ' ' Southside ' ' is 
the section south of the James. ' ' Piedmont ' ' is often applied to the 
counties along the Blue Bidge exclusively, the others being called "Mid- 
land." As the description of these sections is largely a re-survey of 
previous chapters, references have been deemed unnecessary. Much help 
has been derived from "Personal Becollections. " Cf. Nation, September 
13. 1877. 



SECTIONS AND LEADERS, 1879 109 

as follows : Economically, the negro must work out his 
own salvation, unhelped and unhindered; socially, he 
must remain in a rigidly separate sphere; politically, 
he might hold office rarely and vote to a limited extent. 
The rigor of this scheme, however, was modified in many 
a practical way, for the negro's taxes were light, his 
schools reasonably good, his teachers often white, and 
his personal freedom little restrained. His farm lay side 
by side with the white man's; he traded at the same 
store as the white man, drank at the same bar, travelled 
by the same railroad and steamer. When he was accused 
of crime, white lawyers defended him. His own church 
and public "hall" rose in every neighborhood, always 
with white assistance. Grievances the negro undoubt- 
edly had. Punishment by whipping and chains he 
deemed "class legislation" and "degrading"; and he 
resented the fact that his insane were thrust into the 
jails and that jury-service, which he deemed a privilege, 
was denied him. But for all this, he was fairly content 
with his position as a whole; only the practical loss of 
political privileges rankled. 

Not less important was the social situation among the 
whites of the "East." Many of the old plantation class, 
realizing that the prestige of the plantation was gone, 
had quickly moved to the near-by towns, making these, 
as in the Valley, the new intellectual centers. Under the 
exigencies of reconstruction politics, political leadership, 
too, passed from the counties and the old leaders gave 
place to a compromising and practical body of men 
residing chiefly in the towns — men with strong Northern 
connections, intent upon the material development of 
the state, and caring little for "dead issues." Then 
came the Confederate reaction, bringing prominence and 
power to "war heroes." While adhering to the views 
of the old leaders these men deemed themselves prac- 



110 BEADJUSTER MOVEMENT IN VIRGINIA 

tical, and soon formed alliances with the "interests," 
by conceding to the latter the shaping of economic and 
fiscal policies though reserving the offices for themselves. 
Thus "honor" and the "credit of the state" were com- 
bined in a new party watchword. Meantime a stronger 
middle class was forming. To the numerous small 
farmers were added new landowners, saloon-keepers, 
small manufacturers, truckers, oyster-planters, cattle- 
dealers, merchants, self-made lawyers, and not a few 
solid adventurers from the North. The towns felt their 
presence: even in Richmond political recognition was 
accorded the German and Irish elements, and a "bone 
and sinew" candidate now and again opposed a "Frank- 
lin Street man." Still more important were the men 
of this class in the counties from which the old leaders 
were departing. Here they rose to prominence in the 
churches and the numerous fraternal and benevolent 
associations, shared local political leadership, and even 
broke into the family circles of the weakened upper 
classes. As yet, however, their opportunities were 
greatly restricted; for energy, initiative, and equipment 
were valued but lightly in comparison with "expe- 
rience," and in public life offices were deemed "honors." 
Finally, turning to the lowest classes, we find conditions 
very bad and very slow to improve. Never had illiteracy 
been so great or knowledge of public affairs so slight. 24 
Obsessed by race prejudice, the lower classes followed 
party leaders almost as blindly as did the negroes. The 
abolition of slavery, together with the breaking up of 
the plantations and the establishment of public schools, 
unquestionably meant their ultimate emancipation, but 
only after they had learned to labor intelligently and 
to save. Meanwhile hard times and competition with 

2 * The "pauper" system of schools (ch. II) was discontinued during 
the war and was never revived. 



SECTIONS AND LEADERS, 1879 111 

the freedmen kept them literally bowed to the ground. 
The more serious minded found solace in the churches, 
where a Puritan-like religion was preached; others, in 
the saloons, where drunkenness and brawls were fre- 
quent. In the public schools, indeed, they dimly recog- 
nized their children's chance for better things. But it 
was difficult both to pay taxes and to spare the child's 
labor and the money for his books and clothes. Besides, 
in some places the schools were closing. Could these 
masses be aroused so that they would throw off the 
leadership of the aristocrats and the towns? Before 
1877 efforts to this end had been rarely successful and 
only when disguised by some minor issue. Now, in 1879, 
Mahone was hopeful, but not sanguine, that the masses 
might be stirred to a livelier interest in the affairs of 
the government. 

The list of leading Readjusters in the "East" was 
short but significant. Foremost in the ridge counties was 
the plebeian farmer and parson, John E. Massey; in the 
Midland, James Barbour led. Of a family long promi- 
nent in the affairs of state and nation, Barbour had 
battled independently and fearlessly for a more repre- 
sentative party management and against the fiscal policy 
embodied in the Funding Act. 25 In Richmond, the Whig 
fought almost alone ; for the course of John S. Wise was 
as yet unannounced. In the "Southside," where the 
densest negro population lay, the self-made Mahone 
found a powerful ally in his aristocratic fellow towns- 
man, William E. Cameron. An editorial writer of 
uncommon power, Cameron was also a successful poli- 
tician, and was now serving his third term as mayor of 
Petersburg despite its large negro majority. He and 
John S. Wise, both young, eager, and brilliant, with 
perhaps a touch of unsteadiness, were destined to be 

-z Barbour had been anti-Mahone in the railroad war. 



112 READJUSTEE MOVEMENT IN VIRGINIA 

viewed in the North as excellent examples of the anti- 
Bourbon forces in the movement. From Williamsburg, 
Dr. Richard Wise, of the well-known Virginia family 
of that name, co-operated with V. D. Groner, 26 the self- 
made manager of a great Norfolk steamship line, himself 
no believer in Readjustment but a friend of Mahone. 27 
While the leading Readjusters of the "East" were 
thus evenly divided as regards the class from which they 
sprang, the three most conspicuous and powerful of 
them were, and claimed to be, "men of the people." 
William E. Massey 28 called himself "the father of the 
Readjuster movement. ' ' The son of a small farmer and 
mechanic of Spottsylvania County, he had managed to 
secure a good education, and having drifted about in 
Piedmont and the Valley, as teacher, lawyer, and itiner- 
ant and regular preacher in turn, he had finally settled 
as a farmer in Albemarle. Forced repudiation of Con- 
federate bonds (some of which he owned), increased 
taxes for interest on the compounded state debt, the high 
private interest rate, and the general suspicion of one 
who lives remote from the center of things combined 
to convince him that the interests of the "people" were 
not being represented at Richmond. Therefore, though 
sharing the traditional Virginia opposition to a min- 
ister's participating in politics, he felt that the situation 
imposed upon him a moral duty. And so, in 1873, he 
entered the House to undo the Funding Act. Here, 
impressed by the indolent and slipshod methods of 
handling the state's securities, he hit upon the plan of 
killing the act by creating difficulties in the use of 
coupons, on the ostensible ground of preventing fraud. 

2« See Dispatch, November 15, 1879, June 2, 1881 ; State, 1881. 

27 Whig, June 3, 1881. 

28 Massey, Autobiography; Contemporary press; "Personal Eecollec- 
tions ' ' • above, p. 63. 



SECTIONS AND LEADEES, 1879 113 



The morality of this appeared perfect, for he was an 
"original readjnster. " From the genial simplicity of 
his looks and the apparent harmlessness of his efforts, 
the capital city reporters soon dubbed him "Parson." 
But when, in 1877, the state treasury became empty and 
the lawyer-farmer urged in a vigorous pamphlet that 
the affairs of the state be settled as would those of a 
private bankrupt, men began to say that he would be 
a strong independent candidate for governor. Save for 
his fiscal views, however, Massey was a genuine Conserv- 
ative; only with considerable reluctance did he enter 
the convention of 1879. But once committed, he acted 
with remarkable energy. Wandering about the state, 
he drew large crowds, especially among the farmers. 
Thoroughly understanding the shallower aspects of 
finance and the deep feelings of the people, with a 
marvellous memory for figures and a lack of scruple in 
using them, full of homely anecdotes and Biblical 
quotations, occasionally caustic, always imperturbable, 
he had no peer as a stump-speaker in his own party and 
rarely met his match among his opponents. 

Through its long opposition to policies approved by 
the leading classes, the Richmond Whig had become by 
1877 theoretically a democratic paper. In the shaping of 
this attitude well-born men had played a leading part — 
Mosely and Meade as editors, Cameron, Rumn, and 
Ruffner as contributors. None the less the belief gained 
ground that for certain purposes at least the Whig was 
but the "personal organ" of General Mahone; and as 
Mahone and democracy were both unpopular in Rich- 
mond, it had ceased to be read in the "best homes" there. 
Its editor now was W. C. Eiam, a plain man of North 
Carolina and as good a school man "as ever put pen to 
paper." 29 With Elam the social note was ever promi- 

29 W. H. Kuffner to Elam, Buffner Papers. 



114 READJUSTEE MOVEMENT IN VIRGINIA 

nent — "the Brokers and the Broker press," the "Scribe 
and Pharisee" parsons, the office-holding set who "gen- 
erally train with the conrt-house clique and always 
believe that money and position are stronger than the 
people." In lucid explanation of figures, often combined 
with unwarranted distortion of them, in effective reitera- 
tion of a leading idea in striking language, and in arous- 
ing suspicion of his adversaries' motives through insin- 
uation, virulent personal attacks, and often deliberate 
misrepresentation, he was unexcelled. And for all such 
utterances of the Whig, though a recluse by habit and 
physically unfit, he held himself strictly accountable, 
according to the honor code of the "Bourbons" whom 
he so much affected to despise. 30 

Quite different from the rest was Gen. William 
Mahone. 31 In him a varied career as soldier, railroad 
president, and political wire-puller had developed 
remarkable capacity for intrigue, organization, and 
command; and an extraordinary energy rendered these 
powers always available. Possessed of a peculiar per- 
sonal appearance, a high-pitched voice, and many 
idiosyncrasies of manner, he presented to the observer 
few of the characteristics of an orator or party leader. 
Though he quickly learned the language of the reformer 
and spoke easily of "the cause" which he came later to 
interpret as the "regeneration of Virginia," he lacked 
magnetism and was never genuinely popular with the 
rank and file. Lieutenants, however, he won easily, espe- 
cially among young men, and these he inspired with 

so See Dispatch, June 24, July 3; Whig, February 9, 1880. The 
Northern Neck News, June 11, 1880, has an account of his duel with Col. 
Thomas Smith, of Fauquier, caused by an editorial assertion (June 1, 
1880) that on the collapse of the Confederacy, "the President, Governor, 
and whole bomb-proof corps grabbed the remaining swag and sneaked 
away." It is said that Elam after the duel denied the authorship of this. 

si Above, p. 68. 



SECTIONS AND LEADEKS, 1879 115 

confidence and aggressiveness. In the campaign of 
1879, we hear little of headquarters of committeemen. 
Mahone was everywhere — planning, speaking, bargain- 
ing. It was a new type of leadership, and one with 
which Funders for four years were utterly unable to 
cope. 

The Funders accorded to none of their number such 
precedence as was enjoyed among Readjusters by the 
leaders just described. Of most distinguished ante- 
bellum services was E. M. T. Hunter, state treasurer, 
who had been opposed to the tax-receivable coupons and 
had favored a readjustment of the debt in the interest of 
"peelers," but now deprecated party divisions because, 
he thought, ' ' the political warfare upon the South has not 
yet ceased." 32 Although a Confederate of distinguished 
Virginia family and educated in the school of Calhoun 
and McDuffie, John W. Johnston had accepted federal 
appointment as judge in 1869, and from this position 
had been advanced to the federal Senate by the com- 
promising legislature of 1869-1870. Conducting him- 
self with quiet dignity, however, he managed to escape 
serious suspicion as to his party integrity, and having 
become rooted in the regard of the business men of the 
"East" and of the entire western section, he was now 
serving his third term. 33 The family and business con- 
nections of Robert E. Withers, together with a certain 
personal charm, political aggressiveness, and the glam- 
our of military service, had caused him to be elected 
over Hunter in 1874, as the colleague of Johnston. 34 An 
intense interest in public education led Dr. William H. 
Ruffner, of Lexington, at first to favor readjustment ; but 

32 Letter in Dispatch, October 4, 1S79. 

33 He was elected twice by the legislature chosen in 1869, see above, p. 
22. The third time John W. Daniel was his chief opponent. 

si Withers, Autobiography, p. 317. 



116 READJUSTEE MOVEMENT IN VIRGINIA 

upon the passage of the Henkel Act, he began to throw 
the weight of his strong personality and the prestige of 
his office into the Funder scale. 35 All of the Congress- 
men supported the Funders. Of these, John Randolph 
Tucker, of Lexington, 36 was probably the ablest and had 
the clearest record for sound fiscal views ; John Goode, of 
Norfolk, was deemed the most eloquent and popular. 
The Whig hated Tucker most bitterly for his opinions, 
and despised Goode for having broken from his old 
alliance with Mahone. 37 A war hero, young, eloquent, 
popular, and with a personal defeat chargeable to 
Mahone, 38 John W. Daniel, of Lynchburg, was most 
active in stumping the state, and successful beyond all 
others in uncovering Readjuster plans. An asset of 
great moral worth was the eloquent preacher and 
future ambassador to Madrid, J. L. M. Curry, professor 
in Richmond College. 39 Gen. T. M. Logan, now a rail- 
road promoter of Richmond, and Senator John T. 
Lovell, editor of the Warren Sentinel, shared the com- 
mittee leadership; J. Bell Bigger, formerly of Lynch- 
burg, was secretary. Among the newspapers may be 
mentioned the Richmond State, which inherited the 
Bourbon clientage of the Enquirer, the Norfolk Land- 
mark, which had but recently broken with Mahone and 
still insisted upon a discriminating liberalism, and the 
Richmond Dispatch, now nearing the height of its power 
as party organ par excellence. To these should be added 
the Baptist Religious Herald and the Methodist Chris- 
tian Advocate, whose occasional entrance into campaign 
controversy, contrary to their usual custom, serves to 

zsWMg, January 31; Dispatch, October 17, 21, 1879. 

36 Above, p. 81. Mr. Tucker founded the law department of Washington 
College just after the Civil War and lectured there for years. 

37 ' ' New Virginia. ' ' 

38 Above, p. 74. 

39 Alderman and Gordon, J. L. M. Curry, p. 246. 



SECTIONS AND LEADERS, 1879 117 

show how dangerous to moral and social order leaders 
of the upper middle class deemed the new movement. 
In Gen. W. C. Wickham, of Hanover and Richmond, the 
Funders had a Republican ally of much influence in his 
party and of unquestioned business and social standing. 40 
This brief survey of the geographical sections of Vir- 
ginia at this time shows that the "West," especially the 
"Southwest," being democratic and unencumbered with 
a negro problem, was ready to follow the Readjusters, 
and that in the "East" where the negro though of great 
importance was an uncertain factor, their chief hope lay 
in winning ambitious young men or self-made men of the 
middle class, who were barred from political advance- 
ment by the prevailing preference for "experienced" 
men or war heroes, and who might be counted on to 
arouse the lower classes of whites. It shows also that 
though the leaders of the new party were about equally 
divided between the ivell-born and the self-made, the two 
most conspicuous Readjusters were both "men of the 
people. ' ' 

40 Wickham won the rank of brigadier-general in the Confederate army. 
As a member of the Confederate Congress he advocated a cessation of 
hostilities in 1864-1865. Because of the friendship of Grant he was useful 
in the movement of 1869. He was successively president, vice-president, 
and second vice-president of the C. & O. Bailway. See memorial, "A type 
of the Southern Civilization," by Thomas Nelson Page. 



CHAPTER X 
THE READJUSTEE CAMPAIGN, 1879 

The contest for control of the legislature of 1879-1880 
began with the Readjnster Convention. 1 

To prevent the enactment of the McCulloch bill, 2 Read- 
justee of the legislature had already begun to filibuster. 
But, supported by the bulk of the press and some expres- 
sions from the public mass-meetings, Governor Holliday 
called an extra session. The Conservative state com- 
mittee met quietly on the night after the call and 
endorsed the bill. 3 Then the debt-paying association 
became dormant. Black-lists of the opposition began to 
appear. And after some three weeks the Funders had 
secured the great advantage of une fait accompli.* 

Interest centered next on the spring elections for 
local offices. Control of these through "rings," Read- 
justee said, formed the very basis of "Bourbon" and 
"Broker" power. Accordingly, candidates sprang up 
"as plentiful as the locusts of Egypt." In some places 
ability to write was the only requisite required. "Hand- 
shaking" on county court-days was widely complained 
of. Incumbents usually won ; for in many eastern coun- 
ties the possibility of Republican success kept the organ- 

i Ch. 9. 

- Above, p. 85. 

3 Below. 

* Dispatch, March 5, 6. W. E. Royall took the stump for the Funders 
and in 1880 established the Commonwealth in their interests; Bradley T. 
Johnson returned to Maryland; C. U. Williams became financial agent for 
the funding syndicate. Cf. p. 81. 



READJUSTEE CAMPAIGN, 1879 119 

izations intact, and in others party regularity was still 
esteemed. But the increased number of the disap- 
pointed, the acceptance of Readjustment by many of 
them, and the bitterness of feeling developed — these 
were all favorable to the new move. 5 

Local organization in the interest of the Readjusters 
had begun during the convention days when some county 
chairmen were appointed by the Congressional district 
committees. 6 Early mass-meetings especially in the 
democratic "West," had enthusiastically assumed to 
endorse, revise, or supplement these appointments, the 
standard being usually good community standing. 
But soon a dearth of material was met, and mass- 
meetings and committees ceased to be reported. Save 
for the peripatetic Massey, Readjuster speakers also 
became quiet. Encouraged by this and by the appar- 
ently successful operation of the McCulloch act, the 
Funders exultantly asserted that the move was "dead." 
On July 4, however, the Whig briefly stated that 
the organizing was going on "with vigor." This 
was true. Through his power as party chairman, 
Mahone had been quietly selecting his men, and late in 
July the Funders, to their surprise, faced a compact and 
widely extended organization. 7 For these later selec- 
tions, the qualifications were generally shrewdness and 
availability. 

The Funders, meantime, were planning to use the 
name and organization of the Conservative party. But 

5 Cf. above, p. 76. Dispatch, Whig (news and editorial columns), 
April, May, especially election returns (May 24 ff.); Virginia Star, August 
23; Northern Neck News, June 13. 

6 Above, p. 101. The county (or town) chairman named three associates 
from each magisterial district, these smaller groups constituted precinct 
or ward committees. 

i Whig, February 27 (list of county chairmen) ; March 22, 24; April 24; 
May 20. The difficulty was admitted by Eeadjusters, Whig, July 23, 
October 30 (New York Herald interview with Elam). 



120 READJUSTEE MOVEMENT IN VIRGINIA 

the Conservative state committee hesitated to take 
vigorous action. A half-hearted attempt at checking 
the move early in March had met only derision. 8 The 
Readjusters, clinging to their place in the old organiza- 
tion, 9 refused to admit that they had left the party; 10 
they asserted that the committee held by usurpation and 
represented rejected principles, 11 and they challenged it 
to call a state convention. 12 It was, indeed, no slight 
matter to "read men out of the party"; and the final 
decision was taken in the face of the vigorous protest 
of two members and by one less than a majority of the 
whole committee. On August 6, by a vote of 13 to 2, 
the McCulloch Act was declared ' ' a great public measure 
devised and accomplished by the will and judgment of 
the Conservative party," and support of it was made 
the test to be applied in local organization and nomina- 
tions. 13 

Public discussion formed a striking 14 and important 
feature of the campaign. In March, prominent Read- 
justers began to invade the precincts of Funder legisla- 

s By the vote of nine members the Beadjusters were declared a "party" 
and local reorganization in the interests of the McCulloch bill was urged. 
The Whig, March 6 ff., dubbed this ' ' Lord Lovell 's lament ' ' from John 
T. Lovell, over whose signature as chairman the address was published. 
For unsuccessful attempts at local reorganization see Whig, March 22, 24, 26 
(quoting Fredericksburg 'Recorder and Southern Intelligencer). 

9 For disorganization in consequence, see Dispatch, October 23 ; Virginia 
Star, October 25. 

10 Cf. Bourbons in 1869 and debt payers in 1877, above, pp. 21, 36, 73. 

ii "If Beadjusters have gone out of the party, where in the devil did 
the Funders go when they formed an association with Wickham, Bives, and 
Hughes . . . f" Abingdon, Virginian, in Whig, March 11. Cf. above, 
p. 83. 

i*E.g., Whig, March 11. 

is Dispatch, Whig, August 7. John L. Marye drew the report. Groner 
and Wise (above) protested. For two later addresses, see Dispatch, August 
9, 20. Some Funders regretted this action, notably the Landmark and the 
Fetersburg Index-Appeal. 

i* Cf. above, pp. 41, 49. 



READJUSTEE CAMPAIGN, 1879 121 

tors, compelling them to defend themselves and some- 
times to call in their more eloquent friends. This attack 
lasted through May. In August, the Funders "took 
the stump" in force. Debate then became general and 
continued until November. The Readjusters used their 
half dozen strong speakers to great advantage. Begin- 
ning in the ' ■ Southwest, ' ' in the Valley, and in the ridge 
counties of Piedmont, where discontent was unrestrained 
by the negro problem, they advanced gradually east- 
ward, singly, by twos, threes, or even fours, as occasion 
demanded, through the discontented tobacco counties 
into Tidewater and thence back into the fairly pros- 
perous counties along the upper Potomac, often suddenly 
returning to some strategic point threatened by the 
Funders ' more numerous artillery. Although new party 
organs were established and the circulation of the old 
ones increased, these discussions, often joint and lasting 
from four to six hours, largely took the place of cam- 
paign literature. 15 

At first the Funders assumed a haughty attitude, and 
relied too much on appeals to sentiment. But the Read- 
justers asked questions, read figures, and took the offen- 
sive; and soon detailed and serious discussions became 
common. These discussions centered upon three points : 
the validity of the debt, the McCulloch "settlement," 
and the purposes of Readjuster party. 16 

is For convenient list of newspapers, see Dispatch, August 21; Whig, 
January 4, August 5. Ten thousand copies of General Mahone's convention 
speech were ordered printed. The address of the Eeadjuster members of 
the legislature could be had for five dollars per 1000, net. Funders printed 
the Petersburg address of J. W. Johnston. Examples of new papers are 
the Giles True Issue (Eeadjuster), and the Northern Neck News (Funder). 

is Among the best reported speeches are those of J. W. Johnston in 
Norfolk and Petersburg (Dispatch, October 2, 11) ; Ban Tucker in the 
"Southwest" (Abingdon Standard, October 16); Mahone in Eichmond 
(Whig, February 25); Blair at Wytheville (Whig, May 20); and Massey 
as collected in his Autobiography. See also Conservative committee ad- 



122 READJUSTER MOVEMENT IN VIRGINIA 

The Funders would begin by showing how the debt 
was originally contracted honorably and for public utili- 
ties which still served their purpose. 17 Admitting this, 
the Readjusters told of how interest had accumulated 
during war and reconstruction, and of how this had been 
assumed as an obligation and compounded, under the 
Funding Act, contrary to every principle of law and 
equity. 18 But, said the Funders, we are bound for the 
debt as it stands (less West Virginia's share) : legally, 
even to the extent of our private property, because of 
our contract; morally, because we are forbidden to 
steal — the state's honor is that of the individual; com- 
mercially, because Wall Street opinion "controls the 
influx of capital." 19 No state, replied the Readjusters, 
has ever been compelled to pay against its will. Other 
states have repudiated without loss of credit or blame 
from Funders. 20 Are not many of you private bank- 
rupts ? Is it not rather cowardly to cater to the opinion 
of those who "having stripped us, think it rascally that 
we should not submit to be skinned'"? 21 "Honor won't 
buy a breakfast. ' ' 22 

dresses (above). Important Funder campaigners not mentioned above 
were : A. A. Phlegar, called by the Eeadjusters the ' ' brains of his party 
in the Southwest ' ' ; W. W. Walker, minister and lawyer ; C. W. String- 
fellow; W. E. Eoyall (above); Gen. J. A. Walker, commander of the 
Stonewall Brigade; J. H. Tyler, C. H. O'Ferrall, and P. H. McKinney, 
later governors; ex-Speaker Allen; Attorney-General J. G. Field, elected as 
a Eeadjuster; E. A. Coghill; A. M. Keiley, mayor of Eichmond. 

it This argument was used in the ' ' West ' ' especially, Dispatch, July 29 
(editorial), August 13 (letters); Whig, September 6 (editorial). 

is While Eeadjuster opinion continued to differ on the amount the state 
was not properly bound for, this was always excluded. Cf. above, p. 62. 
Funders urged that emancipation was not an absolute loss to the state, 
Whig, September 5 (W. W. Walker) ; Dispatch, October 2 (J. W. Johnston). 

19 Norfolk Landmark, in Dispatch, October 17. 

20 Whig, October 23, November 3. 
2i Whig, February 28. 

22 This phrase, first used by Blair, was much distorted in its applications 
by the Funders. 



EEADJUSTER CAMPAIGN, 1879 123 

The McCullock Act, asserted the Flinders, will settle 
the question. It gives to creditors even less than does 
the Barbour bill. Its acceptance by them is clear from 
the amounts already funded. It brings the debt within 
the capacity of the state. Even Mahone has admitted, 23 
and the auditor's figures clearly demonstrate, 24 that 
three per cent interest can be paid now without increase 
of taxes, and before the higher rate begins conditions 
will so improve that the ten-forties can be replaced by 
three per cent bonds. Under the Henkel Act, they con- 
tinued, the schools will receive more than the Barbour 
bill allowed them; therefore, the leading school officials 
advocate the new settlement. 25 Through exemptions and 
special privileges, replied the Readjusters, the ten- 
forties are equivalent to six per cent bonds. Moreover, 
the creditors of the state, under this act, would receive 
only fourteen of the thirty-two millions that the state 
would have to pay; brokers would get the rest. 26 Com- 
parison cannot be made with the Barbour bill as that was 
but the first part of the program of 1877-1878. 27 'the 
Funders ' estimates are deceptive as usual, the fraud now 
consisting in making a division between "ordinary" and 
"extraordinary" expenses and excluding in the process 
whatever is inconvenient. Actually, there would prob- 
ably be a deficit of $600,000 yearly for the first ten years 
under the proposed "settlement." 28 Did not Johnston 

23 Above, p. 99. 

2* Address of Conservative state committee, above, p. 120. 

25 Landmark, July 9 (speech of Supt. William F. Fox, president of the 
Educational Association of Virginia). 

26 See the Godwin-Koyall debate at Surry Court House, Dispatch, August 
28; Whig, September 1, October 3. 

27 Whig, October 3. 

23 The chief trick in the j uggling by which this was obtained lay in 
confusing the special embarrassments of the funding period (above, p. 90) 
with permanent conditions. The confusion was very thoroughgoing. See 
Massey, Autobiography, ch. XIV; Whig, August 11. 



124 READJUSTEE MOVEMENT IN VIRGINIA 

and Phlegar originally admit this? And is not McCul- 
loch reported to have already "given the order" for 
an issue of certificates under the "Allen amendment" 
which will cost the state five and a half per cent a month 29 
and paralyze the schools? Just wherein lies the justifi- 
cation for believing that ten years will enable us to pay 
a state tax of ninety cents? 30 Shall the state be thus 
"bound for forty years"? Shall the people never know 
anything but debts and taxes and unsatisfied wants ? 

Questioned as to their political intentions, the Read- 
justee asserted that this was not a "party fight"; men 
would next year vote their old tickets. 31 Here, however, 
they were on the defensive. The Funders were, indeed, 
forced by campaign exigencies to modify their early 
emphasis upon the heinousness of "deserting" the Con- 
servative party for an alliance with the Republicans. 32 
None the less, they thoroughly ventilated the "records" 
of the new party leaders. 33 "Look at them all. From 
leader to corporal, what has any one of them ever done ? 
Absolutely nothing. ' ' Massey was a ' ' political parson ' ' ; 
Paul, a "ranter"; Fayette McMullin, "an ignorant, 
uneducated old man" 3 * — all were "disappointed politi- 
cians" seeking to "get possession of the state, rob her, 
and blacken her fair name. ' ,35 And Mahone ! had he not 
virtually robbed the state of assets equivalent to ten 
millions of state bonds? 36 Did he not, during the last 
legislature, father a scheme for using the sinking fund 

29 Ibid., September 17. Certificates could be sold at seventy-five and 
redeemed six months later at par. 

so Report, in Dispatch, September 2, of Mahone 's Charlottesville speech. 

si For example, Whig, September 10 ; Blair at Wytheville, Wytheville 
Dispatch, in Whig, May 20. 

32 See Dispatch, August 28, for a recent local use of this. 

33 Dispatch, July 10 (editorial). 

34 Dispatch, July 23. 

35 Dispatch, July 19; August 8 (quoting Hillsville Virginian). 

36 Eoyall in Dispatch, October 11, and Abingdon Standard, October 16. 



READJUSTEE CAMPAIGN, 1879 125 

to purchase a railroad and make himself president? 37 
Now compare with these our leaders, they said, both 
Senators, all the Congressmen, four ex-governors, the 
leading clergymen, nearly all the newspapers at home 
and abroad ! 38 And what will the Readjusters do if they 
win! Pack the state courts 39 and attempt to repudiate? 
Then we shall have among us federal tax gatherers, 
backed by federal troops. 40 The day, replied the Read- 
justee, when great names carried weight is past. 41 As 
for the press, "McCulloch's Republican organs in New 
York and his Conservative organs in Virginia play the 
same tune. . ... in hoc signo vinces — $ is borne on all 
the banners of the many against the few. ' ' 42 Office-seek- 
ing ! How dare the Funders reproach us for this ? Has 
not Daniel run for " every office in sight," and at last 
had a town created that it might bear his name and elect 
him mayor? 43 The debt can be readjusted, without any 
packing of the courts, by using pressure such as the 
Funders are now using upon consol holders. 44 

From their dull talk of sickness and hard times the 
people turned to these discussions as to an intellectual 
treat, plodding miles, and standing hours in the sum- 
mer's heat. But they were largely a crude, unread 
people, untaught by reconstruction politics to differ 
philosophically. Coarse jokes, rude interruptions, sting- 
ing personal attacks were relished. Feelings usually ran 
high. Among the spectators fights were not infrequent. 

st Dispatch, September 5 (editorial on authority of Daniel). 

38 Dispatch, July 28. 

39 Cf. above, p. 46. 

40 Argument used by Eoyall and Goode and endorsed by the Dispatch. 
*i Whig, September 10 (on candidacy of W. W. Henry) ; Virginia Star, 

October 11. 

42 Whig, February 28. 

43 Massey, Autobiography, eh. XIV. 

« Elam, New York Herald, in Whig, October 30. 



126 READJUSTEE MOVEMENT IN VIRGINIA 

Often a general "row" seemed imminent. Back to the 
crossroads store went a vague impression that we did 
or didn't owe a debt, and a vivid recollection of how 
some speaker ' ' eat up ' ' his opponent. 45 

Nominations for the one hundred and forty seats 46 in 
the legislature began early in August. In the "West," 
Readjusters and Funders conducted themselves like well- 
established parties of nearly equal quality. 47 In the 
"East," however, chaos reigned. The Funders had 
much trouble. Their "Conservative" meetings were 
often attended by Readjusters — sometimes in good faith, 
often to force an adjournment or even to dictate the 
nomination. Many refused to enter the "modern 
scramble for office." Sometimes faction and the strength 
of the debt feeling compelled them to postpone nomina- 
tions, set aside old favorites, and honor converted Read- 
justers. 48 But, on the whole, their selections were 
decidedly representative of the successful upper classes. 
In Readjuster conventions, on the other hand, one could 
note an unusual proportion of new men and ruined rep- 
resentatives of old ruling families, and many Independ- 
ents and Republicans. Here some excellent nominations 

45 "Personal Becollections " ; Dispatch, August 28 (Surry); Virginia 
Star, November 1; Whig, June 12 (Grayson Clipper); October 18 (Kock- 
ingham). At least two were shot in quarrels. For duelling later, see above, 
p. 114. 

46 The full number of both houses under constitutional amendment of 
1876, Thorpe, VII, 3902. 

47 The Funders were somewhat superior socially and in past political 
honors especially in the Valley. In six counties of the ' ' Southwest ' ' and 
one of the Valley there were Independents. 

48 Whig, October 1 (Grayson) ; Dispatch, October 8 (King William) ; 
Whig, March 22, 24, 26, April 19, and Virginia Star, August 13 (Stafford) ; 
Whig, September 6, and Dispatch, September 15 (Patrick-Henry) ; Virginia 
Star, August 23, October 1 (Fredericksburg-Spottsylvania) ; Dispatch, 
October 6 (Prince George-Surry). 



READJUSTER CAMPAIGN, 1879 127 

were made 49 and some exceedingly bad ones. 50 The 
latter were due in part to the dearth of suitable mate- 
rial and in part to the attempt to win the colored vote. 

Influenced by the opposition of President Hayes to 
repudiation in any form, the Republican state leaders 
early expressed their personal approval of the McCul- 
loch Act. On the other hand, they hoped that the negro 
would be kept out of the campaign, lest, perhaps, he 
learn to follow other leaders. 51 With this the Funders 
were, of course, content. 52 The negroes, however, as far 
as they had any opinion on the subject, were opposed to 
paying the debt. It had been created by their old 
masters, it interfered with schools and asylums, and it 
necessitated a tax on whiskey. Moreover, it was gener- 
ally supported by their political opponents and opposed 
by the local Independent and Republican leaders whom 
they were wont to follow. Still, fear of estranging the 
whites and, in many cases, the habit of years impelled 
the Readjusters to seek this vote very cautiously. True, 
the negroes who had come to their convention had been 
received courteously, and had been accorded in the 
address a vague recognition of their desires as to 
schools, suffrage, and taxes. But, taunted with these 
facts, the Readjusters half apologized; saying that to 
break the color line had been originally one of the aims 
of the Conservative party; that the debt question must 
be settled by votes, and they preferred the "honest 

49 E.g., the "Gallant" Col. Bob Mayo, of Westmoreland, and J. T. 
Stovall, formerly Conservative chairman in Patrick-Henry. 

so This analysis is based on a detailed study of two Tidewater and two 
Piedmont counties and the returns for the House (Dispatch, November 16), 
supplemented by a mass of press notes. 

5i Cf. above, pp. 50, 83. Whig, March 3 (views of President Hayes), 
July 12, 30 (quoting Rockbridge Enterprise) ; August 20 (Southern Intel- 
ligencer); below, p. 135 (purported Mahone-Cameron arrangement). 

52 Whig, March 22; Dispatch, August 9, November 15 (quoting). 



128 READJUSTEE MOVEMENT IN VIRGINIA 

negro" to " Bourbon Republicans"; that the Funders 
had counted upon " bagging them all" through their 
association with "Rives and Co."; and that it was due 
to Bourbon trickery and broker money that negro 
delegates had come to their convention at all. 53 Accord- 
ingly, confused by divided leadership and little sought 
by either side, the negroes were generally apathetic. 54 
But with September the situation changed sharply. 
Beginning, apparently, with an insinuating speech of 
Massey's in Petersburg, the Readjusters spread rumors 
that they would grant the colored men more "rights" 
and that the Funders meant to increase the poll tax to 
three dollars and ' ' bind ' ' them for forty years. Churches 
and societies were called in to spread and enforce these 
rumors. 55 Republicans, some of them negroes, were 
supported for the legislature in at least twelve counties 
and one town. The Funders at once countered by 
appeals to the negro pride in their "best men" and by 
confusing local situations. They spoke from the same 
platform with hired negro speakers, established clubs, 
ran Republican candidates to split the vote of the Read- 
justers, and in at least six counties voted themselves for 
Republicans, two of whom were negroes. Moreover, 
private citizens pledged themselves to pay any increase 
in the poll tax. Rumor had it that "Broker money" was 
plentiful, 56 and both state and national Republican 
leaders now lent their active assistance to the unusual 
attempt to save the negro from unscrupulous and 
designing men. 57 

53 Above, pp. 83, 99. 

s* Landmark, September 10 (quoting Southern Intelligencer). 

55 Dispatch, September 17, 30, October 8, 10, 14; Virginia Star, Septem- 
ber 13; Dispatch, November 15 (quoting Cameron in New York Herald). 

ssWhig, September 30; October 10, 17, 18, 28; Northern Neck News, 
October 10; Virginia Star, October 29. 

57 Frederick Douglass endorsed the McCulloch Act and President Hayes 



Dis 

Mode 
Mod« 
Very 
Very 
Ma jo 



K.Y. 




Distribution of the Races 

Moderate while majority |||||| 
Moderate negro majority 

Verylarge white majority fl|| v 

Very large negro majority = * 

Majority of less than 10 per cent. | ffift| 



my. 



.: 



^£ 







KEADJUSTER CAMPAIGN, 1879 129 

The campaign closed amid great confusion and excite- 
ment. With three sets of candidates in the field for 
both House and Senate (as often was the case), bar- 
gains could be made with lightning rapidity. Peters- 
burg negroes were wild, their women urging them on, 
firmly believing that the McCulloch Act would " place 
their children in bondage for forty years to pay a debt 
created to hang John Brown." 58 The Funder executive 
committee had suggested "confidentially" that care be 
taken to have "one reliable person" at each voting 
place. 59 "Vote or die; and have your vote counted, or 
give short shift to those who seek to prevent," counselled 
the Whig. 60 

By a vote of 82,000 to 61,000 the Readjusters won 
fifty-six delegates and twenty-four senators. 61 The sur- 
prise and mortification of the Funders was intense: 
rascality had won; the negro was the cause; the world 
must know that tax payers and real Virginians had 
voted to pay the debt. In this view the outside press 
concurred with unusual unanimity. 62 The Readjusters 

authorized Judge Hughes to telegraph his endorsement to Colonel Popham 
(clerk of the federal court and editor of the Southern Intelligencer). But 
the negroes considered the Douglass letter a forgery and Hayes the sup- 
planter of Grant. The Republican state executive committee urged support 
of all "straight-out" Republican candidates, Whig, October 16, 29, 30; 
November 1. 

58 Petersburg Index-Appeal, in Dispatch, November 11. 

59 Whig, September 30. 
eo Whig, October 27. 

si In the Senate, of 30 Funders, 5 were re-elected, of 13 Readjusters, 7 
were re-elected and 2 replaced by other Readjusters, Whig, November 12. 
The smallness of the vote (figures are for delegates) was due to poor 
Funder management, the perplexity of the negro, and to the Readjusters' 
having no candidates in some districts (e.g., Richmond) owing to lack of 
time and funds, Whig, October 30. 

62 Dispatch, Whig, Northern Neck News, passim. The New York Tribune 
was an exception. 



130 READJUSTER MOVEMENT IN VIRGINIA 

denying all of these assertions claimed a majority of 
both races. 

Analysis of the returns 63 — and the much larger vote 
of 1881 was substantially similar 64 — shows that the white 
and Conservative "West" 65 and the negro and Repub- 
lican districts of the "East" had in the main gone 
Readjuster; the prevailingly Conservative and white 
counties of the western and northern Piedmont, Funder. 
The towns, even the little villages, usually went Funder ; 66 
the districts surrounding them, Readjuster. Several 
counties of the "East" distinguished from their neigh- 
bors by large white majorities and a reputation for 
"backwardness" were, suggestively, Readjuster. 67 The 
sectional, racial, and class feeling which thus appear back 
of the returns, were probably assisted directly by the 
degree of long continued economic depression ; for while 
the map shows very mixed results, of twenty counties 
selected for the heaviness of realty depreciation, four- 
teen went Readjuster, and in only six of these did the 
negro predominate numerically. 68 Possibly one-fourth 
of the negroes and 40,000 whites, for one reason or 
another, left their regular parties. 69 

63 Cf. maps. 

6* Seven House districts changed each way. 

es The "Southwest" elected 18 Beadjusters to 3 Funders; the Valley, 
11 Beadjusters to 6 Funders. 

66 Petersburg and Norfolk were Beadjuster; Portsmouth, a tie. In 1881 
Norfolk and Portsmouth were Funder; Danville, Beadjuster. 

67 E.g., Stafford, Bichmond, Spottsylvania, Fairfax. 

es The map is for the years from 1860 to 1875; for valuation in 1880, 
see below, p. 144. Of towns, only Petersburg and Fredericksburg showed 
losses. 

69 This estimate is based on a study of individual districts. Cf. Whig, 
Dispatch, November, December, passim. The Beadjuster vote in the 
"West" was 23,000. In Norfolk, 169 negroes voted; the Funder white 
majority was 131, Landmark, in Whig, November 10, 16. From districts 
with a negro majority of ten per cent or more, 20 Beadjusters and 12 



KEADJUSTER CAMPAIGN, 1879 131 

In their local organization the Readjusters utilized 
the multifarious factions already existing. On the other 
hand, the "Funders" — as supporters of the McCulloch 
Act were called — controlled the old Conservative party 
organization, and through its central committee soon 
"read out" all Conservatives who opposed the McCul- 
loch Act. Public joint-discussions characterized all 
stages of the campaign, the Funders appealing to 
" honor" and "party fidelity"; the Readjusters urging 
hard times and the sins of brokers and Bourbons. Late 
in the campaign the Readjusters bid for the negro vote, 
and obtained it through promises of more "rights," 
despite the combined efforts of the ' ' Conservatives ' ' and 
the more prominent Republicans. The election returns 
indicate that the Readjusters won through the combina- 
tion of the negroes and the "West," aided by acute and 
long-continued economic distress. At best, however, the 
vote was light. 

Funders were returned. Similar white majorities sent 28 Beadjusters and 
26 Funders; the rest, 10 and 4 respectively. 



CHAPTEE XI 

NATIONAL INFLUENCES: THE READJUSTER- 
REPUBLICAN ALLIANCE, 1880-1881 

Owing to opposition from the governor, the legislature 
accomplished little during the session of 1879-1880 
beyond indicating with greater clearness the Readjuster 
program. Before this program could be completed in 
1881-1882, 1 a policy in national affairs began to appear 
which, though in many respects not an integral part of 
the Readjuster Movement, gave it a national importance 
and profoundly modified its later course. 

From 1869 to 1877 Virginia's touch with the Union 
had been slight. By carefully maintaining a formal 
obedience to reconstruction laws, the dominant Conser- 
vative party had been able to avoid serious interference 
from Washington, federal supervisors of elections 
appearing rarely, federal troops but once. 2 This was 
undeniably good. But the persistence with which the 
Republicans endeavored to regulate the domestic affairs 
of the South and the manifest partisanship back of it, 
together with the unending carping of Republican states- 
men and press, 3 had naturally transformed the Demo- 

iSee ch. XII. 

2 At Petersburg, November, 1876, Governor, Message, December, 1876. 
The Dispatch (October 2, 1881) charged Mahone with responsibility for 
the conditions which led to their use. 

3 The following editorial from the New York Times (January 5, 1880) 
is by no means an extreme illustration : ' ' The old slave masters must 
domineer and tyrannize; they must keep the colored man in subjection 
and misery; they must raise a barrier of intolerance against enlightened 



NATIONAL INFLUENCES 133 

cratic preference of a majority of the whites into a 
fixed conviction that a decent man could under no 
circumstances be a Republican. Because this conviction 
subserved home rule by the fittest, the leaders of the 
Conservative party did not hesitate to foster it by every 
means in their power, often by language and conduct so 
extreme as to obscure the reasonableness of their main 
position. 4 Nor did the quality of the Virginia Repub- 
licans or the blindness and ineffectiveness with which 
they followed Grant afford any considerable correction 
to the excesses of this sentiment. Inevitably, therefore, 
the Conservative party had gradually abandoned its 
semi-independent position and become a branch of the 
national Democratic party — not so much a partner as 
a handmaid, faithful and unassuming. 5 No Virginian 
influenced either national politics or national legislation : 
the detested tobacco tax and the un- Virginian office- 
holders remained, proofs of isolation and impotence. 

ideas, and fight against the incursion of those who would work for free 
institutions. . . . But one great change they must recognize. They can 
never again tyrannize over the nation. . . . The civilization of the South 
is of the past. ... It must go down, and the sooner the better for the 
South and the better for the nation. ' ' 

4 The following editorial from the Enquirer (July 3, 1877) is by no 
means extreme: "What was 'treason,' 'rebellion' and 'the old secession 
spirit' a few years ago ... is now ' Bourbonism. ' . . . Let us glance 
briefly at the history of Southern 'Bourbonism.' First, What has it done 
for our own state? ... A steadfast adherence to principles, an unswerving 
devotion to the constitution, a refusal to kiss the hand that smote us, has 
built up a pure government and brought us to the threshold of a new era 
of prosperity. Second, What has it done for the nation? It has vindicated 
the right to self-government. ... It is Southern 'Bourbonism' that in- 
spired the cry that now rings out all over the land as a warning to 
radicalism, 'Thus far shalt thou go and no farther.' . . . The vanished 
' Eebel ' has stood a bulwark against the treason of the victor. ' ' 

5 Greeley was accepted in 1872 on account of the similarity of the 
Democratic-Liberal union to the Conservative party at that date. The 
state convention of 1876 neither expressed opinions on national issues 
(aside from reconstruction) nor instructed for presidential nominees. 



134 READJUSTEE MOVEMENT IN VIRGINIA 

Other states followed Virginia's method and example, 
and by 1876 the South was "solid" in political thought 
and action. 6 This solidarity, however commendable its 
origin may have been, 7 was objectionable alike to Liber- 
als and to Radicals in the North : to the Radicals, because 
it was a victory of " Rebel Brigadiers" dangerous to 
both party and Union; to the Liberals, because it meant 
the perpetuation of sectionalism and race prejudice. 8 
Accordingly, as the representative of the Liberals, 
President Hayes attempted in 1877 to break this soli- 
darity by removing its more obvious causes, 9 and by 
offering place to Southern Democrats who would share 
in his administration. In Virginia conditions were not 
unfavorable, for ante-bellum leaders were largely gone 
and old national issues were dormant, 10 the Conservative 
party was overgrown and the Republican discredited, 
while on tariff and money questions opinion was far 
from being unanimous. The attempt, however, proved 

s New York Herald, January 10, October 22, 1869 ; Enquirer, November 
11, 1877; Nation, August 4, 1876, April 5, 1877; Dunning, Be construction, 
p. 303. 

7 Cf. Nation, 1869, 1873, passim. 

8 An additional objection was the very modern one of Southern influence 
in the national convention. Cf. Cincinnati Gazette, in Dispatch, January 1, 
1879. 

» The presence of federal troops and the active participation of federal 
officials in politics, Sparks, National Development, ch. 8; Dunning, "Recon- 
struction, p. 211. The president's idea was not new, see Dispatch, Enquirer, 
Landmark, 1874, passim. "Assessment" of federal employees for partisan 
purposes seems to have been approved or tolerated by Hayes, Annual Cyc, 
1882, art. "Congress." 

i° The legislature and the Conservative party sought to make use of the 
federal treasury. Examples are: joint resolutions for an American univer- 
sity and an American printing-house for the blind (1870-1871), for 
assumption of all state debts, and for appropriation of the net public land 
revenue to education (1879-1880); party requests for completion of the 
James Eiver and Kanawha Canal (1873); press endorsement of federal 
aid in the construction of the Texas Pacific Eailroad (Whig, Enquirer, 
passim) . 



NATIONAL INFLUENCES 135 

disastrous. For while the liberal "outs," largely the 
Mahone following, 11 maintained an open mind and 
possibly a receptive disposition, the other wing, to which 
the president made his appeal, repelled him with hot 
Bourbon wrath or cold partisan calculation. 12 In other 
Southern states the result was the same. 13 

The next attempt to detach Virginia from the solid 
South was due to influences that President Hayes and 
the independent opinion of the North would gladly have 
discredited. Senators Conkling, Cameron, and Logan, 
highly incensed at the threatened injury to the political 
machines, were plotting to retain the old system and 
restore Eepublican control over Congress by electing 
Grant for a third term. 14 In the fall of 1879, ex-Senator 
Simon Cameron quietly came to Richmond and made 
secret arrangements with Mahone. In accordance with 
these arrangements the Republicans of the legislature 
helped to elect Mahone to the federal Senate, despite the 
efforts of the Funders to effect a different combination. 15 

11 See Whig, Landmark, April, 1877, passim, including quotations from 
the Petersburg Index- Appeal. Cf. above, ch. 6. 

12 J. L. M. Curry (above) was offered a place in the cabinet, Alderman 
and Gordon, J. L. M. Curry, ch. 14. The Enquirer demanded that those 
who took his ' ' pay for treason ' ' be visited with the ' ' social terror, ' ' see 
February 27, March 10, 24. The Dispatch urged the danger of Eadical 
rule and the possibilities of an alliance of interest with the West, see 
especially April 13. Dr. Curry's declination was based on grounds of 
broad policy. 

is Cf. Mayes, Lamar, p. 319. 

i* Sparks, National Development, pp. 167 ff. ; Cooper, American Politics, 
I, 242; Conkling, Boscoe ConTcling, chs. 29, 30, 31; W. S. Kerr, Senator 
John Sherman, chs. 45, 46. Don Cameron, son of ex-Senator Simon 
Cameron, the boss of Pennsylvania, was now Senator and chairman of the 
Eepublican national committee. He was credited with originating the idea 
by the Nation, September 7, 1882. 

is Cooper, American Politics, I, p. 263. Mr. Cooper was chairman of the 
Pennsylvania state committee, a consistent Eepublican and a ring man. 
His story is confirmed by Withers, Autobiography, p. 386, and by contem- 
porary suspicion, e.g., New York Times, April 22, 1880. The Funders sup- 



136 READJUSTER MOVEMENT IN VIRGINIA 

Soon the old rumor was revived that the Readjusters 
would support Grant the next year; but this rumor, as 
late as November 7, was branded by the Whig as a 
"stupendous falsehood." 

Whether in accordance with the Cameron agreement 
or not, Mahone in 1880 adopted a curious and tortuous 
policy. He first suggested, early in the year, that the 
Readjusters nominate independent Congressional candi- 
dates and an independent electoral ticket, "uncommitted 
to any National party or its candidate, and instructed 
to vote together in the electoral college as may seem 
best to them for Virginia, for the South, and for the 
Union"; to which the Whig added the gloss that "if the 
vote should be close between the National parties [as in 
1876], the Readjuster Electors, if elected, would be in 
a commanding position well worth striving for." 16 
Meantime, however, the North was diligently encouraged 
to believe that the debt issue was but a pretext under 
cover of which the color line had been broken and 
"Bourbonism" was being overthrown; 17 and this belief 
was widely held, especially among the friends of Grant. 18 
When, therefore, after a short but vigorous Sherman 
campaign, 19 Grant appeared to be the decided choice of 
the Virginia Republicans, Mahone deliberately advocated 

ported the ' ' Eoss Hamilton ' ' bill proposed by the negro of that name 
and drawn, it was said, by Congressman Dezendorf and other Eepublicans, 
Dispatch, February 28, 29, 1880. 

i 6 Whig, January 31; Dispatch, February 2, 3 (quoting Mahone inter- 
views in Philadelphia Press and New York Herald). The Whig recalled 
the original function of electors. 

1 7 Op. cit.; Dispatch, November 15, 1879 (Cameron interview). 

is New York Times, April 22, 28, July 7 ; New York Tribune, February 
2, 3, April 22 ; Nation, March 3, 4, April 29. 

is The New York Times (January 24, February 17) charged, giving 
names and places, that Sherman tried to effect fusion in the Congressional 
districts and to win votes for himself by extensive use of the treasury 
patronage. The Tribune denied this. 



NATIONAL INFLUENCES 137 

fusion on the basis of six Eeadjuster and five Kepublican 
electors pledged to Grant. But, despite the strategy of 
the party chairman, 20 and the pleas of the Lewises 21 and 
the Southern Intelligencer (hitherto Funder), the Repub- 
lican convention, controlled by office-holders and guided 
by Gen. W. C. Wickham, Mahone 's quondam railroad 
antagonist, voted fusion down, though only by a very 
narrow majority and after an all-night session, during 
which, it was said, a stampede for the Mahone fusion 
plan was averted only by a false fire alarm. 22 Undaunted, 
Mahone then called a Eeadjuster convention which 
nominated an electoral ticket pledged to Hancock; 23 and 
having attempted unsuccessfully to fuse this with the 
regular Hancock ticket, he supported it to the end. 24 
None the less, the Eeadjuster candidates for Congress 
took so unhesitating a stand for the upbuilding of the 
material interests of the commonwealth, through pro- 
tective tariffs and internal improvements at national 
expense, and expressed such fervent thanks that the day 
had come when the proud Bourbon was beneath the feet 
of the common white man, that the Eepublican national 
committee urged their support in several districts. 25 
But the "intense prejudice for maintaining democratic 

20 C. P. Bamsdell and James Brady, chairman and secretary respectively, 
published their resignation on the issue of Hayes's civil service order 
(above) but did not call the committee to receive it. Following the prece- 
dent afforded by the national Eepublican committee, they now resumed 
their places, and called a convention, small, early, and in the heart of the 
white and Eeadjuster Valley, Southern Intelligencer, December 17, 1879, 
January 3, 19, 1880. 

21 Ex-Senator John F. Lewis and his brother, L. L. Lewis, then federal 
district attorney. 

22 Dispatch, Whig, New York Times, April 23 ; Nation, April 29, 1880. 

23 Whig, State, New York Times, July 7, 8; Nation, July 15, 1880. 

2* State, October 18, 22, 28, November 1 ; Nation, October 28, November 
1, 1880. 

25 Whig, June 5; State, October, November, passim, 1880; Address of 
Straight-out Eepublicans, 1884; New Virginia. 



138 READJUSTER MOVEMENT IN VIRGINIA 

supremacy" and the "solid phalanx in which the colored 
people were marched to the polls and voted — contributed 
to produce consternation and a stampede." 26 Read- 
justee polled only 30,000 votes for president. They 
maintained their organization unimpaired, however, 
and sent Fulkerson and Paul to the House of Repre- 
sentatives at Washington. "I can not be dismayed," 
wrote Mahone, "nor deterred from adherence to prin- 
ciple. . . . The duty of the hour is organization and 
preparation for the fight ahead." 27 

At the special session of Congress of March, 1881, 
Mahone entered the Senate and by his vote gave the 
Republicans control over its organization. 28 The Repub- 
licans, in turn, nominated Riddleberger and George C. 
Gorham 29 for sergeant-at-arms and clerk of the Senate 
respectively, and gave Mahone the chairmanship of one 
committee and a commanding position on three others. 
These acts precipitated prolonged and vigorous discus- 
sion. Renouncing any obligation to act with the 
Democratic party because he had been elected as a 
Readjuster, Mahone declared himself still a Democrat, 
but utterly opposed to Bourbon control through tyranny 
of public opinion and suppression of the negro vote. 
The Democrats sought to show that the Republicans 
were buying help from a party traitor and repudiator. 
But the president sent him flowers and Senators Logan, 
Hoar, 30 and Cameron rushed to his defence. A speech 

26 Mahone to Harvie, November 5, 1880. 

27 Op. cit. 

28 Cong. Becord, 47 Cong., Special Sess., pp. 5, 22, 33, 55, 85, 137, 176; 
New York Times, March 7, 10, 15, 16; New York Tribune, March 15; 
Mayes, J. Q. L. Lamar, ch. 25; Hill, Senator B. H. Hill of Georgia; 
Cooper, American Politics, III, p. 207. 

29 Gorham had been serviceable in securing Eepublican co-operation in 
the legislature of 1879-1880. See also below, p. 154. 

so Yet Mr. Hoar says (Autobiography, II, p. 160): "With the excep- 
tion of Eeverdy Johnson, of Maryland, there is no record of a single manly 



NATIONAL INFLUENCES 139 

of Cameron's was significant. The desire to elect 
Riddleberger, he said, was ''something higher and 
above ' ' a mere effort to reward party friends and control 
the organization of the Senate. It concerned the coming 
political contest in Virginia. It will be the best proof 
that could be given of the confidence which the Repub- 
lican party has in all true men who uphold the laws, of 
its respect for them, and desire to co-operate with them. 
"All that we ask is that they shall stand with us in favor 
of securing to each lawful voter the right to cast one 
free and unintimidated vote, and to have it honestly 
counted." If this be done, "the Solid South is a thing 
of the past." 

The campaign for governor and legislature (1881) 
had, indeed, already begun. Warned by the strength 
of Democratic sentiment displayed the year before 
among the Readjusters, Mahone announced in January 
that the maneuvers of 1880 had been merely incidental, 
and that the main issue would be the same as in 1879. 31 
The state convention early in June reiterated this 
announcement, adding to the issues railroad regulation 
in the interest of the people and a formal condemnation 
of suffrage restrictions. Significantly enough, however, 
the convention dared to join to these democratic prin- 
ciples an endorsement of federal aid in the development 
of mining and manufacturing. The state ticket, too, 
presented a nicely calculated balance: "There's Cam- 
eron, he's for the Democrats; and there's Lewis, he's 
for the negroes; and there's Blair, he's for the Green- 
back lunatics," commented the Dispatch. 32 Then was 

remonstrance, or expression of disapproval, from the lips of any prominent 
Southern man" against election frauds in the South. Nor does he mention 
Mahone in his autobiography. 

si Whig, January 4, 14, 1881. 

32 June 4. For the elimination of Massey, see below, p. 152. John S. 
Wise was the choice of Richmond Readjusters for governor. 



140 READJUSTEE MOVEMENT IN VIRGINIA 

seen much running of Republicans to and from Wash- 
ington, the result of which was that the "Coalitionist" 
faction endorsed the "Anti-Bourbon, or Liberal, Party," 
along with the payment of "every dollar [of the debt] 
honestly due," and the "Straight-outs" soon withdrew 
the ticket which recollections of the year before had 
induced them to put into the field without the usual 
authorization. 33 

The response of the Funders to these movements was 
significant. 34 They accepted Readjuster ideas 35 as to the 
schools by pledging the payment of all funds appro- 
priated "by the constitution or otherwise." They 
promised "equality of right and exact justice to all 
men," including specifically fair elections and jury 
service of both races. They coupled the name of James 
Barbour with that of John W. Daniel on their state 
ticket, and agreed to use all "lawful and constitutional 
means in [their] power to secure the settlement of the 
debt upon the basis of a three per cent bond," with but 
one class of creditors and without increase of taxes. 
Having thus minimized the differences between the two 
factions of the old party, they rang the charge of a cor- 
rupt Republican alliance, and, as the campaign pro- 
gressed, cautiously urged, under the leadership of A. M. 
Keiley, the re-establishment of race lines in politics. 
The Readjusters countered vigorously: W. E. Cameron 
boldly talked of carrying ' ' Africa into the war ' ' ; federal 
appointments favorable to Mahone began to be reported ; 
and soon, with the succession of Arthur to the presidency, 
removals took place in his interest, 36 and Senator 

33 For full account see Annual Cyc, 1881. 

si Dispatch, State, June 2, 1881. Cf. Dispatch, November 15, 1879. 
The Conservative debt plank was almost identical with that advocated by 
Mahone in 1879. 

35 Below, p. 160. 

ss Gorham is reported to have said in 1882 that Garfield insisted on 



NATIONAL INFLUENCES 141 

Cameron " passed around the hat" among the revenue 
officials throughout the country. 37 But the net result 
was a fuller vote rather than any change from the 
alignment of 1879; for the issues of that year had not 
been settled. And the victory was similar to that of 
1879. 

Thus, before the new and victorious party could do 
more than indicate clearly its program in state affairs, 
two external forces began to attract it toward Republi- 
canism. These forces were the sentiment of liberalism 
and the exigencies of machine politicians. That the 
latter would determine its ultimate course was asserted 
by many thoughtful men. In the second contest for 
control of the state, however, the Readjusters won on the 
same issues as in the first: a larger vote indicating 
greater popular interest and better organization. 

treating Mahone as a Bepublican Senator if he continued to support 
Republicans in the Senate, Dispatch, October 12, 1882. Mahone stated that 
he received little federal help before Arthur's administration, New York 
Times, November 20, 1881. Blaine at first opposed him. On September 22 
the Nation said, "News has been coming in for some time that Federal 
officers are being removed for refusing to act with Mahone and the Read- 
justers, " and gave specific instances. Cf. Sparks, National Development, 
p. 328. 

37 Cooper, American Politics, I, p. 264; Nation, June 2, 9, 16, 23, 30, 
August 18; Annual Cyc, 1881. 



CHAPTEE XII 
THE READJUSTEES IN POWEE, 1879-1883 

The period of Eeadjuster control over the legislature, 
from December, 1879, to December, 1883, proved to be 
a period of Eeadjuster supremacy in all departments. 
During the first two years the Eeadjusters were, indeed, 
hampered by a Funder governor, and insurgents clogged 
the machinery for the greater part of the last two 
years. 1 Some have claimed, too, that much of what was 
done was due to influences discussed in the preceding 
chapter and should be credited to "Mahoneism," not to 
Eeadjustment. None the less, a great deal was accom- 
plished during these years, and little of it without the 
consent of those whom the Eeadjusters had freely chosen 
to lead them. 

Of Eeadjuster legislation, "An act for the preserva- 
tion of the credit of the state," commonly called the 
' ' Eiddleberger bill, ' ' 2 formed the very heart. Vetoed by 
Governor Holliday in 1880 as in flat defiance of both 
state and federal courts and contrary to "the spirit 
which has ever moved and inspired the traditions of the 
commonwealth," 3 this bill was remodelled and two years 
later received the signature of Governor Cameron. 4 
One-third of the principal and accrued interest, as of 

i The governor 's term began with January. 

2 In Whig, February 10, 1880. 

s Sen. Jcur., 1879-1880, p. 440. 

* Act of February 14, 1882. For character of amendments, see below. 



THE READJUSTEES IN POWER 143 

July 1, 1863, was set aside for West Virginia. 5 By 
deducting from the remaining principal all sums paid 
through the sinking funds since that date, the debt 
principal was found to be $16,843,034. The total interest 
unpaid to July 1, 1863, and since accruing on the 
corrected principal was $25,743,268; deducting sums 
paid or assumed in some other form the balance of 
interest due was $4,192,343. The total debt (including 
the literary fund) 6 was therefore declared to be $21,035,- 
377, 7 as of July 1, 1882. New eighteen-fifty bonds, dated 
July 1, 1882, and bearing three per cent interest payable 
in lawful money, were offered in exchange for the 
various classes of outstanding indebtedness, the ratio of 
exchange being determined by subtracting from the 
amount of each class the interest on it already paid. 8 
Payment of interest on the debt in any other form was 
forbidden. The new bonds became known as "Riddle- 
bergers." 

As a supplement to this act, two ' ' coupon-killers ' ' had 
already been passed. These forbade tax collectors, 
under pain of heavy penalties, to receive coupons except 
' ' for verification ' ' before a jury of the county and when 
accompanied by the amount of the taxes in cash; upon 
the establishment of their genuineness the cash would 
be refunded. The remedy offered for the breach of 
contract 9 would, it was thought, satisfy the courts; the 
difficulty and cost of proving the genuineness of coupons, 
clipped from bonds held abroad perhaps, would prevent 

s West Virginia entered the Union June 20, 1863. Certificates of indebt- 
edness "to be accounted for by the state of West Virginia, without recourse 
upon this commonwealth ' ' were given. 

e Principal, $1,428,245; interest, $602,016, Second Auditor, Beport, 1881. 

7 Approximately, a sealing of ten millions. 

s Consols would exchange at 53, ten-forties at 60, peelers at 69, etc. 

9 Above, p. 43. 



144 READJUSTEE MOVEMENT IN VIRGINIA 

their deluging the treasury and tend to encourage con- 
version of consols and ten-forties into Riddlebergers. 10 
Thus the long-desired uniformity and definiteness of 
obligations, and an adequate reduction in the annual 
interest burden, seemed assured for the not distant 
future. 

While readjusting the debt, the legislature also began 
a readjustment of taxation. In this matter, the wretch- 
edness of the existing system might well have authorized 
a thoroughgoing revision. No more serious purpose 
appears to have been entertained, however, than to 
lighten for the time the burden of the laborer and the 
farmer, and to gain some partisan advantage thereby. 
Thus the new measures declared that the poll tax need 
no longer be paid before voting, substituted the older 
and lighter liquor license plan for the Moffett law, 11 
reduced the tax rate on general property from fifty to 
forty cents, and ordered a reassessment of realty under 
conditions which resulted in a diminution of $13,000,- 
000. 12 To offset the loss in revenue thus entailed, an 
effort was made to reach corporate wealth; and this 
effort, it should be recorded, was serious and eventually 
successful. 13 The energetic measures taken to collect 
delinquent taxes, to compel county treasurers or their 

10 Acts of January 14 and January 26, 1882. See above, pp. 42, 65, 
for origin of this method of attack. 

"Above, p. 57; Acts, 1879-1880, p. 147. Fulkerson introduced the 
bill at the request of the liquor dealers, Whig, January 16, 1880. 

12 Acts, 1881-1882, p. 497. The old plan was used, but by Eeadjuster 
appointees and with extended opportunities for local revision, cf. above, 
p. 91. 

is Cf. above, p. 56, [Douglas S. Freeman], Beport of the Virginia Tax 
Commission (1911), appendix, ch. 6; Magruder, Recent Administration, 
p. 175. The taxable value of railroads in 1880 was $9,876,000; in 1885, 
$35,955,000. 



THE READJUSTEES IN POWER 145 

sureties to settle, 14 and to adjust old claims of the state 
against the railroads 15 were of similar importance, for 
they enabled the Readjusters to punish enemies and 
reward friends, and produced a temporary abundance 
of funds. These funds the legislature proceeded to spend 
with an abandon but little short of recklessness. 16 

The direction which the liberality of the legislature 
took was significant. Public education received such 
generous treatment that some feared the ruin of the 
denominational schools. 17 The Riddleberger act put the 
literary fund in the most favored class of creditors and 
directed that the interest in arrears be paid in cash to the 
amount of $378,000. The state tax rate for schools was 
not reduced; local boards were authorized to tax rail- 
road and telegraph property for their support; and, 
under the "Granstaff" act, the percentage of the 
schools' estimated quota of state taxes to be retained by 
local authorities was increased to ninety. 18 The full 
claim of the schools to taxes previously "diverted" was 
admitted, and regular quarterly payments of $25,000 and 

i* Auditor, Reports, 1880, 1881 ; Acts, 1879-1880, pp. 74, 136, 293, 299. 

1* Acts, 1881-1882, pp. 76, 400, 490. Thus ended the state's ownership 
in railroads, with the exception of the E. F. & P. stock, which is still 
retained and is exceedingly profitable, and some minor properties sold in 
1882-1883. The A. M. & O. sale (below) was generally conceded a good 
bargain for the state. The Eichmond and Danville was permitted to redeem 
an amply secured debt of $420,000, due four years later, with ' ' Eiddle- 
bergers ' ' worth about 50. The requirement that this road surrender its 
exemption from taxation appears to have been a condition attached to 
the issue of new stock, and not a part of the sales bargain. 

is For contemporary discussion of wastefulness from the Eeadjuster 
standpoint, see the reply of John S. Wise to Holmes Conrad, in Whig, 
September 25, 1883. At that date the treasury contained one and one-half 
millions. 

it Eichmond Christian Advocate, January 26, 1882. Colleges were given 
special privileges later, Acts, 1881-1882, p. 203. 

is Cf. above, p. 87; Acts, 1881-1882, pp. 166, 203, 233. 



146 READJUSTEE MOVEMENT IN VIRGINIA 

a special payment of $400,000 thereon were directed. 19 
This $400,000 was secured from the settlement of the 
A. M. & O. claims. The remaining $100,000, derived from 
the same source, was granted, together with a fixed annu- 
ity, to a negro "Normal and Collegiate Institute," 20 the 
construction and operation of which were quickly begun. 
Altogether, public schools received from the state 
annually about $600,000, as against less than $400,000 
annually from 1870 to 1877. 21 For lunatic asylums 
approximately $250,000 a year was spent, as compared 
with $190,000 in 1879 (when special attention had been 
given them), and a new building for the colored insane 
was virtually completed. 22 Nor did the maimed Confed- 
erate soldier lose any part of his customary paltry 
donation. 23 

If this legislation, while primarily fiscal, had an impor- 
tant social significance, still more did a multitude of 
other measures, passed or nearly passed, tend to sub- 
serve the interests of the masses and to break the power 
of wealth and established privilege. 24 The poll tax, 
imposed originally for the benefit of schools which should 
train citizens to vote but converted by Bourbons and 
debt payers into a restriction on suffrage, was repealed. 25 

is Cf. above, p. 62 ; Acts, 1881-1882, pp. 203, 473. 

20 IMd., p. 286. Apparently this money should have been used to reduce 
the debt. Above, p. 19. 

21 Auditor, Eeports, 1877, 1880 to 1883. The estimates are the author's. 

22 Auditor, Reports; reports of asylums, in Annual Reports, 1884; Acts, 
1881-1882, p. 246. The new asylum had been long projected. The South- 
western Asylum (white) might be credited to Eeadjuster influence, Acts, 
1883-1884, p. 692. 

23 Auditor, Reports, passim. The total average annual payment was 
about $10,000. It had been very irregularly made. 

24 There is an excellent, though partisan, summary by B. B. Munford in 
State, September 13, 1889. 

25 Funders aided in the final stages from party motives and because of 



THE READJUSTEES IN POWER 147 

The whipping-post was abolished ; mechanics were better 
secured in their wages; foreign insurance companies 
were put under a stricter bond; 26 and benevolent and 
fraternal organizations were chartered by the score, 
among them a " Labor Association of Lynchburg." 
N. W. Hazelwood, in behalf of the state grange, cham- 
pioned bills to prevent fraud in the manufacture of fer- 
tilizers, to establish experiment stations, to provide 
state supervision over the warehousing and sampling of 
tobacco, and to regulate the rates and management of 
the railroads. 27 Lady pushed a commissioner-of-sales 
bill which would have transferred the management of 
property to be sold under judicial decree from the sup- 
posedly grasping lawyers to special state officials. Here- 
tofore, especially in 1877-1879, the legislature had gladly 
removed disabilities incurred for duelling; henceforth, 
state officials must make oath that they would never 
participate, directly or indirectly, in this relic of past 
customs. 28 

The state administrative departments, wrote Massey, 
just after the victory of 1879, must be put ' ' in sympathy 
with the people." "If I can exert any influence," de- 
clared Mahone, "not one of them [the present officials] 
shall go unexpelled — and that quickly. " 29 In this view the 

the corruption to which it gave rise, see below, p. 156; Whig, January 23, 
1880, September 25, 1883 (John S. Wise); Dispatch, April 7; State, April 
22, 1882. Fulkerson was patron of the repeal. The vote on ratification 
was 107,303, to 66,131. 

26 Acts, 1879-1880, pp. 81, 87. 

-i Rouse Bills, 1881-1882. Hazlewood was secretary of the grange and 
a member of the legislature. Duff Green presented the railroad bill. For 
ulterior purpose, see below, p. 158. 

2 8 Acts, 1881-1882, p. 404. Hazlewood favored a more extreme measure, 
House Bills, 1881-1882, No. 207. 

29 Letters to Colonel Harvie, November 10, 11, 1879, Harvie Papers. 
For method of selecting officials see below. 



148 READJUSTEE MOVEMENT IN VIRGINIA 

legislature unanimously concurred. By common consent 
Massey became auditor. The energy and ability which 
he brought to this important office, long slothfully and 
incompetently administered by an appointee of Governor 
Peirpoint, justified the selection. 30 His successor, S. 
Brown Allen, however, was a "Mahone man," and 
proved an entirely unsatisfactory official. A scheme 
devised by Massey for the collection of delinquent taxes 
became in the hands of both, but especially of Allen, a 
powerful and sometimes corrupting political asset. 31 
C. M. Reynolds and T. T. Fauntleroy, "original read- 
justee," received the easy places of treasurer and sec- 
retary of the commonwealth. They served acceptably 32 
until 1882, when they were replaced by the "Mahone 
men, ' ' D. R. Reverly and W. C. Elam. Gen. Asa Rogers, 
long second auditor and as such directly in charge of 
the debt and the school funds, became railroad com- 
missioner, and H. H. Dyson, a Republican, took his place. 
Despite the protests of even Republican friends of public 
education, Superintendent Ruffner was replaced at the 
end of his term by R. R. Farr — a severely ironic com- 
mentary upon the sincerity or the intelligence of Read- 
juster interest in the schools. 33 

With startling directness the legislature declared 
vacant the controlling boards of the several state 
asylums and colleges; and in some instances even ven- 

30 Massey, Autobiography, ch. 15; House Jour., 1881-1882, December 16; 
comparison of auditors' reports. Auditor Taylor was in large part the 
victim of circumstances. 

si Sen. Jour., 1883-1884, Docs. 27, 30; House Jour., 1883-1884 and 1884, 
Index. 

32 Sen. Jour., 1881-1882, Doc. 20. The selection of Fauntleroy was 
criticised by the Dispatch, which had previously commended him. 

33 Massey, Autobiography, p. 204; Euffin, Mahoneism; House Jour., 1883- 
1884, Index; Buff tier Papers (letters of Gen. S. C. Armstrong, president of 
the Hampton School, to Euffner, 1881). 



THE READJUSTEES IN POWER 149 

tured to order an immediate reorganization of the insti- 
tution affected. 34 For this the general excuse was "Bour- 
bon" inefficiency and lack of sympathy with the masses. 
There was truth in the charge; but under the new 
regime the improvement in efficiency was not as notice- 
able as the amount of petty extravagance and humiliat- 
ing partisanship. 35 So, too, the old county and city 
school superintendents, who had been selected mainly 
because of their moral and scholastic qualifications, were 
largely replaced by men of energy in close " touch with 
the people." But as the new appointees used their 
energies primarily in the service of the party and the 
superintendent and the county judge controlled the local 
boards of school trustees, which selected the teachers, 
the entire school system began to feel, what had been so 
long feared, the vicious influence of politics unabashed. 36 
Nor were the courts spared. For a century they had 
been citadels of conservatism and respectability. They 
were wont to be affected by politics only remotely. Be- 
cause of the character of the judges, extra-judicial 
powers had been given them in matters requiring impar- 
tial and scrupulously honest attention, such as the 
appointment of election officials and assessors and the 
selection of school trustees. Most of them, however, held 
Funder views; besides, Readjusters needed the power 
and prestige of their offices. So the legislature retired 
all of the supreme court judges and about three-fourths 
of the county and corporation judges as their terms 
expired, and was with difficulty prevented from vacating 
the circuit courts under the pretense of redistricting. 
The new supreme court judges served full terms without 

s+Acts, March 9, 1880; February 15, March 3, April 7, 14, 1882. 

35 Eeports of superintendents and boards in Annual Reports; Sen. Jour., 
1883-1884, Docs. 32, 33. 

36 Sen. and House Journals, 1881-1882, Index; below, p. 167. 



150 READJUSTEE MOVEMENT IN VIRGINIA 

discredit. But the scarcity of Readjuster lawyers, party 
exigencies, and the refusal of some Funder lawyers to 
accept Readjuster appointment led to many unsatisfac- 
tory and some scandalous selections. By 1884, six 
appointees had resigned under pressure, one had been 
removed, and six had died. In the opinion of some com- 
petent observers, no other action of the Readjusters 
produced such deep dissatisfaction as did this. 37 

That the legislature sent self-made men to the national 
senate was perhaps accidental. Through their energy 
and their willingness to exchange deciding votes for 
federal patronage, however, these Senators gave to Vir- 
ginia a prominence and an influence which she had not 
possessed for more than a generation. Neither Mahone 
nor Riddleberger spoke frequently, being immersed in 
state politics most of the time. Both advocated a high 
protective tariff, Mahone having much to do with the 
notorious iron schedule in the Tariff Act of 1883. Both 
advocated liberalism, Mahone to the extent of vilifying 
a large part of his constituents. But in neither of these 
positive attitudes did they represent the most intelli- 
gent and substantial citizens of their state or rise to the 
level of national statesmanship. 38 

37 Massey, Autobiography, p. 217; Senate and House Journals, 1879-1880, 
1881-1882, 1883-1884, Index; Whig and Dispatch, passim; Eoyall, Virginia 
State Debt Controversy, ch. 5. Convenient lists may be found in the 
WarrocJc-Richardson Almanack. Supreme court judges were: Robert A. 
Richardson, T. T. Fauntleroy, L. L. Lewis (below), B. W. Lacy, D. A. 
Hinton. Prominent among county judges not removed were John W. Bell, 
Jos. H. Sherrard, William H. Mann. Prominent new appointees were 
J. R. McDaniel, Jas. M. Gregory, Edmund Waddill, F. S. C. Hunter, William 
R. Taliaferro, A. M. Lybrook, Robert Mayo. Prominent as corporation 
judges were Thos. S. Atkins, A. C. Holliday, D. J. Godwin, N. B. Meade, 
S. B. French. That some were illegally retired was strongly maintained. 

38 Above, p. 138. Mahone voted on but 7 of the 22 matters deemed 
worthy of a recorded vote by the Annual Cyc. He was one of the conferees, 
' ' placed there at a late hour, ' ' who raised the duty on iron ore from 50 
to 75 cents, Annual Cyc., 1883, art. "Congress." 



THE READJUSTEES IN POWER 151 

If one views the legislation of this period as a whole, 
its resemblances to the ultra-democratic ideas imbedded 
in the constitution is at once apparent. So, too, the com- 
parative absence of well-known names among the holders 
of office and the prominence of hitherto obscure men 
bring to mind the carpet-bagger and scalawag regime. 
One striking exception, however, presents itself, and that 
is the attitude toward the negro. Though the needs and 
wishes of the freedmen now had much more weight than 
during the preceding decade, no effort was made to 
' ' elevate ' ' them by special legislation. Even the election 
laws remain unchanged. Appointment to office they 
did indeed receive, but only as "our faithful allies" and 
never very frequently. 39 If a second democratic revolu- 
tion was in truth under way, the forces controlling it 
were the farmers and the poor whites and the aspiring 
middle class leaders. 

Both the rapidity of legislation and the character and 
activities of appointees were largely due to the author- 
ity exercised by General Mahone. The Readjusters had, 
in fact, been developing a "machine," of which Mahone 
was by 1882 the absolute "boss." 40 

The stages of this development are clear. The conven- 
tion of 1879" lodged party control in a state committee 
representative of the Congressional district delegations. 
The legislative caucus that followed emphasized this 
oligarchical tendency by apportioning the state patron- 
age to the Congressional districts, the positions to be 

39 Below, p. 163. 

40 "A member of the Legislature" [Holmes Conrad], Mahoneism Un- 
veiled, in Eufiin, Scrap-Book, II (originally published in the Winchester 
Times, 1883); A. M. Lybrook's letter in Dispatch, September 12, 1882; 
Euffin, Mahoneism Unveiled and An Appeal; Munford's letter in State, 
September 13, 1889. Cf. Massey, Autobiography, ch. 17. 

« Above, p. 101. 



152 READJUSTER MOVEMENT IN VIRGINIA 

filled on nomination by the legislators therefrom. 42 Thus 
a corps of leaders, salaried and uniformly distributed, 
was assured. As the single chairman of the party, how- 
ever, as well as its most distinguished member and the 
owner of the Whig, Mahone from the first exercised 
unusual influence, to which was added early in 1880 the 
prestige of a United States Senator-elect. To him, there- 
fore, was generally conceded the task of "talking over" 
those who were dissatisfied with the action of the "com- 
mittee on spoils," as the caucus apportionment com- 
mittee was aptly termed ; and from this fact it is reason- 
able to infer that he was consulted in advance of the 
apportionment. But thus far the authority which he 
wielded was only such as any capable leader might 
obtain and was perhaps little greater than that enjoyed 
by "Parson" Massey, "the most popular man in the 
party." After his successful debut in the Senate, how- 
ever, Mahone advanced by bold and rapid strides to 
complete control. First, by clever manipulation of the 
state convention, he secured the defeat of Massey 's 
gubernatorial aspirations, and thereby sidetracked his 
only rival. Then, strengthened by this victory and by 
the open and vigorous support of President Arthur, he 
quietly obtained from the candidates for the legislature 
a written "pledge," "under seal," to "stand by the 
Readjuster party" and to go into the party caucus and 

42 Fulkerson presided. Massey, who had been defeated, was made an 
honorary member. Judge B. W. Lacy, of New Kent, became speaker, and 
P. H. McCaul, clerk of the House; Gen. W. M. Elliott became president 
pro tern., and C. H. Causey, of Nansemond, clerk of the Senate; A. J. 
Taylor and C. M. Webber (editor of the Salem Register) became sergeants- 
at-arms. Eiddleberger and Paul were active in patronage arrangements. 
Much to their annoyance, the Dispatch managed to report these meetings 
quite fully. 



THE READJUSTEES IN POWER 153 

abide by its results. 43 After the elections, in a prelimi- 
nary conference of leaders selected by himself, the work 
of the legislature was mapped out ; and, when the legisla- 
ture assembled, this program was gradually unfolded for 
adoption in the caucus under rules of procedure which its 
members were bluffed into accepting, and which, some 
of them asserted, they were not allowed even to read. 
The revolt followed of the ' ' Big Four, ' ' as four members 
of the caucus who had not given the pledge came to be 
called ; 44 and as a result of this revolt most of the meas- 
ures objectionable to even a few Readjuster legislators 
failed of passage. But the ''Big Four" and their 
backers were quickly i l read out of the party. ' ' Nor was 
Mahone's supremacy questioned again for two years. 
This machine, as has been suggested above, rested 

43 Lybrook, op. cit. The procedure followed in obtaining the pledge is 
illustrative of Mahone's indirect methods. The "Judge" addressed below 
was Lybrook. ' ' Fernald ' ' was the Kepublican collector of internal revenue 
at Danville. 

"U. S. Internal Eevenue Office, 

Danville, Va., Sept. 14, 1881. 
Dear Judge. — I send you herewith two 'pledges' to sign one and have 
the party nominee for your county to sign the other one, and return to me, 
and I will forward them to Gen. Mahone, who directs me to do this. 

Of course it is nothing for an honest man to do and sign his hand to his 
faith. Please attend to this promptly. 

Fernald. ' ' 

"Patrick Co., Virginia, 

1881. 

"I hereby pledge myself to stand by the Eeadjuster party and plat- 
form, and to go into caucus with the Eeadjuster members of the Legislature, 
and vote for all measures, nominees and candidates to be elected by the 
Legislature that meets in Eichmond, as the caucus may agree upon. 

Given under my hand and seal this .... day of Sept., A. D., 1881." 

44 Senators S. H. Newberry, of Bland, and P. G. Hale, of Grayson, 
formerly Conservatives, and A. M. Lybrook, of Patrick, and B. F. Williams, 
of Nottoway, formerly Eepublieans. It is the popular opinion in Virginia 
that these men saved the day. 



154 EEADJUSTER MOVEMENT IN VIRGINIA 

primarily upon its control over the patronage, state and 
national. The extent of state patronage has already 
been indicated. 45 Equally important was the national 
patronage. In round numbers, the treasury service 
employed two hundred men at an annual salary of 
$400,000, the post-office department, 1,700 postmasters at 
$150,000. Connected with the federal courts were some 
seventy men. 46 The navy yard at Portsmouth was a 
large and unfailing employer at critical times. In the 
prevailing scarcity of money and dearth of business 
enthusiasm, these positions were all deemed highly 
desirable, and therefore worth working for. Moreover, 
their holders could be "assessed" regularly and with 
confidence. So, too, could Virginia's quota of the 
employees in Washington. 47 Aiid to these sources of 
strength should be added the sympathetic support of 
the National Republican, of Washington, under the edi- 
torship of Gorham and Assistant Postmaster General 
Hatton. 48 

A second reason for the facility with which Mahone 
established machine control is found not so much in the 
character of the Readjuster leaders or in the enthusiasm 
which their plans aroused, though each of these was con- 
tributory, as in the possession of the negro vote. Trained 
by the slave system to unquestioning obedience, the 
colored men had easily learned to follow political bosses 
during reconstruction days. Being gregarious by 
instinct, they almost always moved en masse. And 
since their ignorance was stupendous and their credulity 
childlike, flattery, bribery, and threats were sufficient 

45 Above. 

46 -Register of V. S. Officials, 1879. 

47 New York Herald, in Dispatch, October 22, 1882. 

48 Above, p. 138; New York Tribune, June 5, 1883. Hatton was later 
postmaster general. 



THE READJUSTERS IN POWER 155 

to win them — one was under no necessity of inventing a 
reason for the course they were advised to take. 49 There 
were, indeed, important offsets to these advantages : 
their inability to move without white leadership, for 
example, and the perpetual danger of provoking a recru- 
descence of race politics. But these disadvantages did 
not become operative until 1883. 

The manner in which Mahone used his control over 
the machine is striking. Indeed, in the opinion of some 
it constituted the most important phase of the Read- 
juster movement. Illustrations abound. Thus, despite 
the pledges of two state conventions, the Riddleberger 
Act was not submitted to the people, nor did it directly 
repudiate war and reconstruction interest on the debt, 
both of which the Republicans of the North thought 
unwise. 50 To gerrymander Congressional districts even 
to the extent of making 187,000 people in a white district 
equivalent to 132,000 in a black district was perhaps not 
unusual ; but to avow the partisan motive and to express 
open regret that only eight "administration" represen- 
tatives could be thus assured was rather startling. 51 
The second mortgage bond which Mahone himself had 
executed as president of the A. M. & O. he induced the 

4 » The following was printed by the Dispatch as a speech of W. L. 
Fernald delivered at Halifax Court House: "It does those Funder over- 
seers so much good to see a nigger's back whipped. Every time they see 
a nigger's back cut, they jump up and clap their heels together like game 
cocks. . . . You will see colored judges and lawyers in that court house, 
and you will have good schools if the Eeadjusters succeed. . . . When a 
colored man comes out against the Eeadjuster party, he has sold himself. 
A man who goes against his race and color is a damned scoundrel. . . . 
Some will say, what will become of the Eepubliean party if we all go over 
to the Eeadjusters? There is nothing in a name except the smell. . . . 
My office looks Africa because I have so many colored people in it. ' ' 

so The terms of the debt settlement are, however, in the author 's opinion, 
substantially the same as those of the first Eiddleberger bill, which were 
endorsed by the people in the election of 1881. 

5i The Whig 's utterances are referred to. 



156 READJUSTEE MOVEMENT IN VIRGINIA 

board of public works to compromise for $500,000 in 
cash, and the legislature ratified the arrangement, as 
the schools needed the money. 52 Two bank note com- 
panies, the American and the Kendall, bid for the print- 
ing of "Biddlebergers"; the legislature awarded the 
contract to the lower bidder, but the other contributed 
$5,000 to the campaign fund and the legislature had to 
change its decision. 53 During President Arthur's admin- 
istration some two hundred federal appointments were 
changed at Mahone's request; 54 fear controlled the rest. 
With entire openness, state employees resident in Rich- 
mond were " assessed" for campaign purposes at five 
per cent of their annual salary; federal employees, 
indirectly, at two per cent of theirs. The auditor 
appointed collectors of delinquent taxes with power to 
name their own deputies. To these collectors, receipts 
for the payment of the poll tax were sent, signed in 
blank. The Readjuster voter was handed a receipt as he 
entered the booth and, in 1882, federal supervisors of 
elections guaranteed its acceptance as a prerequisite 
for voting. Such voters were supposed to return the 
receipts; but the collector was not always bonded, and 
did not always render an account to the auditor. 55 

Party leaders Mahone paid well: negroes in the Nor- 
folk region received from $300 to $500 each; men of a 
higher type were rewarded with public favors not 
always of an unquestionable character. 56 Activity was 

52 Above. 

53 Dispatch, State, April, 1882. The state was forced to pay the Kendall 
Company also. In 1885 the second auditor bought the rejected bonds at 
auction from an express company for $17.75, Sen. Jour., 1885-1886, Doc. 10. 

54 Estimate in "New Virginia," in Whig, March 28, 1885. 

55 Above; Sen. Jour., 1883-1884, Doc. 27; contested election cases of 
O'Ferrall v. Paul (House Misc. Docs., 48 Cong., 1 Sess., No. 16), and 
Massey v. Wise (ibid., No. 27, pts. 1 and 2) ; O'Ferrall, Forty Years. 

s 6 Ex-Congressman Dezendorf to D. B. Eaton, in New York Tribune, 



THE READJUSTEES IN POWER 157 

demanded of all office-holders. Thus, the superintend- 
ent of an insane asylum not only distributed poll tax 
receipts but also bought the institution's provisions and 
used its teams in the interest of the party; 57 and the 
Norfolk postmaster and his assistant were reported to 
be usually away on party business. 58 Mahone bossed 
rather than guided: men said that he went into the 
auditor's office and appointed or removed tax collectors 
as if the auditor were his absent clerk; the sheriff of 
Pittsylvania made affidavit that Mahone telegraphed 
his removal; 59 Col. Frank G. Ruffin, long a " power" in 
the Conservative party and a staunch supporter of 
coalition, for protesting against assessment and the 
"pledge" lost his clerkship. 60 Massey alleges 01 that the 
gubernatorial nomination was offered him on the con- 
dition of absolute obedience to Mahone, such as Wise 
and Cameron had promised. Conventions usually merely 
registered his will: that of 1881 adopted a platform 
which he had sent the day before to Wall Street; 62 in 
1884, having named the temporary chairman and, 
through him, the permanent chairman, Mahone reported 
from a single committee a plan of party organization, a 
platform, delegates to the national convention, and 
electors — all of which the convention ratified. 63 

Not content with this power, Mahone contemplated 
vast extensions and a greater concentration of the 

May 14, 1883. Dezendorf was anti-Mahone ; John Goode calls him "able." 
For favors see Euffin, Scrap-Boole, II, p. 174; Munford, op. cit. 

57 Unanimous report of bi-partisan committee, Sen. Jour., 1883-1884, 
Docs. 32, 33. 

ss Dezendorf, op. cit. 

59 Dispatch, February 8, 1883. 

go Ibid., July 6, 9, 1882. 

si Autobiography, ch. 17. 

62 Dispatch, June 8, 1881. 

63 Ibid., April 24, 1884. Col. William Lamb was temporary chairman, 
Brown Allen permanent chairman. 



158 READJUSTEE MOVEMENT IN VIRGINIA 

state patronage. Of this purpose the measures defeated 
by the "Big Four" 64 give ample proof. To concentrate 
patronage was one of the aims of the bill creating the 
office of commissioner of sales in each county and giving 
him the power virtually of controlling the local news- 
paper through the advertising business of the office. 65 
Such, too, would have been the result of the attempt to 
create a railroad commission with power not only to 
examine all books, papers, and employees, and to make 
rates and enforce them, but also to dismiss for cause 
any officer or employee. 66 These proposed offices were 
to be filled, not by popular election or even by legislative 
election, but by the governor. 67 Similarly, although the 
district school trustees were already under Readjuster 
control through their election by local boards on which 
Readjusters had an appointive majority, none the less 
an effort was made to transfer their selection to the state 
board of education, the members of which all held office 
in Richmond. Rumor had it that the sheriffs, too, now 
elective and the most important of the county officers, 
would soon be named at the state capitol. According to 
Colonel Ruffin, if these attempts had succeeded, 42,620 
adults, drawing $18,300,000 yearly, would have become 
virtually subject to Mahone. 

This concentration of power and its further extension 
Mahone and those closest to him defended, by insisting 
that it was necessary to break up the "rings" and to 
keep them broken in order that "Bourbon Democrats 
and Bourbon Republicans ' ' might be overthrown and the 
"regeneration of Virginia" accomplished. And such 

«4 Above. 

ss House Bills, 1881-1882, No. 259. The newspaper provision does not 
appear in this bill in its first form. 

66 Ibid., No. 121. 

67 Scrap-Booh, II, p. 174. Sheriffs are not included. 



THE READJUSTEES IN POWER 159 

reasoning undoubtedly had its weight, especially at first. 
But the written evidence, supported by a well-defined 
tradition among both Democrats and Republicans today, 
indicates clearly that the main object of Mahone's ambi- 
tion was to perpetuate the power of the machine and that 
this was deemed a sufficient end in itself. 

What, then, are the significant features of the Read- 
juster period of control? On the one hand, an attempt 
at democratization through legislation and appoint- 
ments; on the other, the development of a new political 
machine. The legislation was mostly economic and 
social, intended to subserve the interests of the masses 
and to break the power of the privileged classes. Much 
of it was progressive and sound, in line with the best 
tendencies of the reconstruction period. That it involved 
repudiation was unfortunate but probably necessary in 
view of the position taken by the preferred creditors. 
In appointments, the balance of opportunity between 
well-known and unknown men was redressed; even the 
negroes received recognition. But if the conception of 
offices as "honors" was dead, that of office as oppor- 
tunity for public service had not been attained ; instead, 
men served the party. That the organization of the 
party quickly became a machine was due in part to the 
circumstances of its origin and its possession of the 
negro vote ; in part, to the skill of General Mahone and 
his control of the federal patronage. As the machine 
became perfected, it shaped both appointments and legis- 
lation more and more to suit its own ends, until it became 
a very real and a very debasing tyranny. 



CHAPTER XIII 
THE END OF READJUSTMENT, 1883-1885 

With 1882 the character of Readjuster legislation and 
appointments ceased to be a topic of prime political 
interest. To pnt Virginia in the Republican colnmn 
was now clearly Mahone's chief object; to "redeem the 
state" gradually became the single aim of the Conserv- 
ative management. In the struggle Readjuster ideas 
and tactics were taken over by the victorious Conserv- 
atives, soon called Democrats, and thus they survived. 
Simultaneously the improvement in economic conditions 
became apparent. 

The story need not detain us long. In April, 1882, as 
the spokesman of the anti-Mahone Readjusters, Massey 
began to "lay the matter before the people" in charac- 
teristic fashion. 1 His chief contention was that the 
legitimate work of the Readjuster party had been 
accomplished and that Mahone's purpose now was to 
"bind the state and hand her over to the Republicans." 
Others, including Fulkerson, followed. But the regu- 
larly constituted Funder leaders in Virginia were in no 
position to profit by this diversion — their personal 
interests were too closely involved, their knowledge of 
the inner workings of the Readjusters too intimate for 

i Above, p. 152; Massey, Autobiography, chs. 17 to 20; "A. Fulkerson 's 
Account of his Stewardship as a Congressman delivered at Abingdon," in 
Fulkerson Papers; addresses of the "Big Four" and the "Readjuster 
Members of the Legislature" (cf. Lybrook on the accuracy of this claim 
to authorship) in Annual Cyc, 1882; Lybrook, Hahoneism; Ruffin, An 
Appeal 



THE END OF READJUSTMENT 161 

a broad and statesmanlike view. Remote from the 
cauldron of Richmond politics, however, the Democratic 
leaders in Washington saw the opportunity. Quietly 
seizing the party reins, they encouraged Massey to 
become an independent candidate for Congressman-at- 
large and then induced the state committee to give their 
action a passive endorsement. Likewise, under the same 
influences, several Congressional districts informally 
adopted conciliatory policies. But the breach in the old 
party's ranks proved too wide and the workings of the 
Mahone-Republican machine too powerful, for such 
spontaneous and irregular methods. Though it was a 
' ' Democratic year, ' ' the ' ' Coalitionists ' ' won five of the 
eight districts, and Wise defeated Massey by 5,000 votes 
in a total of 193,000 cast. With Mahone in the Senate 
and Riddleberger about to join him there, the "Solid 
South" was unmistakably broken. This result was 
attained by a combination of boss, patronage, and 
negroes — a combination that might easily be effected in 
almost any Southern state. 2 

With spirits thoroughly chastened by successive de- 
feats, Funder congressmen, press, and local leaders 
now, for the first time, deliberately went to the rank 
and file for advice. In the widespread discussion that 
ensued a Conservative policy was gradually shaped for 
use in the legislative campaign of 1883: first of all, an 
unequivocal and formal renunciation of the Funder 
claim to a monopoly of Conservatism ; secondly, a revivi- 
fying of the issue by which warring factions had so long 

2 Cf. eh. 11. Throughout the South, wrote "Vates" in the Boston Post 
{Whig, July 4), the negroes and the bosses are coming together, and "the 
hour is big with fate." The Nation thought the movement "likely to 
spread through the South," January 12, May 25. The Dispatch feared 
(July 12) Mahone 's success "will give such an impetus to the Coalition 
movement that the arrest of that movement between now and 1884 may 
be impossible. ' ' 



162 READJUSTEE MOVEMENT IN VIRGINIA 

been held together ; and, thirdly, a new leadership which 
should be at once popular and efficient. Accordingly, 
the state committee early in the year agreed to call a 
state convention and named as the place, not Richmond, 
but Staunton, in the heart of the white and Readjuster 
Valley. In the election of delegates to this convention, 
the committee announced, "all Conservative Democrats 
are equally entitled to participate." 3 Fortune aided the 
venture. For in March came the decision of the highest 
federal court sustaining "Coupon-Killer, Number One" 
and thereby the Readjuster debt settlement. 4 Some 
Funders, indeed, to whom the decision was almost 
incredible, sought loopholes in the rather confused 
reasoning of the court; but others welcomed the oppor- 
tunity for an honorable retreat, and soon the great 
majority declared the matter ended. 5 Satisfied, many 
Readjusters now entered the convention and shared 
its honors with their old, but hitherto preferred, 
party friends. The platform, formally accepting the 
Readjuster settlement, rang the emphasis upon 
"Mahoneism"; and upon the walls of the convention 
hall one could read "THIS WAY, FREEMEN!" With 
a word of praise the old leaders were set aside, and a 
complete reorganization after the Mahone model was 

s ' ' What Fulkerson did for a convention, ' ' manuscript in the hand- 
writing of Colonel Fulkerson, Fulkerson Payers; Dispatch, February 15. 

4 Antoni v. Greenhow, 17 TJ. S. Bep. 769; Annual Cyc, 1883, Art. "Obli- 
gation of Contracts"; Boyall, Virginia Debt Controversy, ch. 6. The 
grounds were that the remedy offered by the state for breach of contract 
was "substantially equivalent to that in force when the coupons were 
issued, ' ' and that this remedy was the ' ' one which the state has chosen 
to give, and the only one therefore, which the courts of the United States 
are authorized to administer." Chief Justice Waite rested his decision on 
the first named ground, Justice Matthews on the second, Justices Bradley, 
Woods, and Gray concurred in both. Justices Field and Harlan dissented. 

5 Dispatch, March 6; Dispatch and State, passim (citations). That a 
belief in a conspiracy between Mahone and the Bepublican justices had 
weight (Boyall, op. cit.) is not evident from the Eichmond press. 



THE END OF READJUSTMENT 163 

planned. To the chairmanship of the party, with its 
enlarged powers and duties, the convention unanimously 
elected John S. Barbour, a railroad man and a Funder, 
but one of those who had inspired and directed the new 
party policy. Before the convention Barbour stated 
that he "didn't believe much in still-hunting with a brass 
band, nor had he much faith in committees. Nor in 
platforms." In token of the burying of old issues the 
name "Democrat" was now, for the first time, formally 
taken. 6 

Despite the consequent Democratic enthusiasm and 
activity, 7 however, the result of the campaign was still 
in doubt when the "Danville riot" gave to the Demo- 
crats a most convincing argument for the overthrow of 
Mahoneism. 8 The circumstances were these: Early in 
1883, Governor Cameron appointed two negroes as school 
trustees in Richmond, and negro mass-meetings endorsed 
the act. 9 Many Conservatives thereupon urged that 
race lines be drawn. To this, however, many, especially 
of the ex-Readjuster following, would not consent. 10 

e Dispatch, State, Whig, July 25, 26; above, p. 101; Dispatch, July 28; 
Whig, November 7. Barbour was a brother of James Barbour, above, p. 111. 

t The Democrats were aided by the opposition of Straight-outs. Mahone 
was handicapped by the desertion of lieutenants, see letters of Congressman 
Dezendorf , also editorials, in New York Tribune, May 14 ff . ; also inter- 
view of Mahone in same, June 8. Apparently Mahone had to threaten 
Arthur with the loss of Virginia's vote in the national Republican con- 
vention next year, ibid., June 5, 13. 

s Dispatch and Whig, November 3-9; "New Virginia"; O'Ferrall, 
Forty Years, p. 294; "Personal Recollections. " O'Ferrall gives the year 
as 1885. 

9 Dispatch, May, June, July, passim. Another negro trustee had been 
appointed in Lunenburg by Cameron, State, March 8. Kemper had done 
the same, Whig, October 3. But "Africanization" was not feared under 
him. 

10 Opposition to drawing the color line was greatest in the Norfolk 
region, where ' ' fusion ' ' had already begun. Many favored support of 
negro schools from funds contributed by negroes only. 



164 READJUSTEE MOVEMENT IN VIRGINIA 

But as the campaign grew warmer, the Democrats 
resorted to "dividing the crowd" on public occasions, 
and in many places the negroes were wrought up to a 
state of extreme excitement by the speeches of Repub- 
lican leaders. A climax was reached in Danville. In 
this little "Southside" town, the whites paid $38,000 
of the $40,000 taxes. But the negroes were in a majority 
and, aided by a new town charter which they had 
obtained from the "pledged" legislature, they secured 
a majority of the council, over which a carpet-bagger 
presided. All the justices of the peace, four of the nine 
policemen, the health officer, the weigh-master and the 
clerk of the market, together with twenty of the twenty- 
four renters of stalls in the market, were negroes. It 
was just such an "Africanization" as had been feared 
in Reconstruction days, and predicted time and again 
as the necessary outcome of Mahoneism. On the Satur- 
day night preceding election day (Tuesday), a street 
brawl led to a "riot," in which a few whites and blacks 
were killed. The governor called out the militia and 
order was soon restored. But forthwith naming posters 
told the story to the whites of the "Southwest"; and 
in Lynchburg a mass-meeting unanimously resolved, 
upon motion of the stern old Bourbon, Gen. Jubal A. 
Early, that "the negroes must know that they are to 
behave themselves and keep in their proper places." 
After this the result of the election was no longer in 
doubt. The whites turned out as never before, and the 
Democrats, by a majority of 18,000 in 267,000 counted, 
won nearly two-thirds of both houses. From all over 
the South came congratulations, the sincerity of which 
no one denied. 11 

ii Two hundred and sixty-seven thousand votes were counted in 1883 ; 
193,000 in 1882; 213,000 in 1881. The Democratic majority was 18,000 
as against a Eepublican majority of 13,000 in 1881 and 5,000 in 1882. 



THE END OF READJUSTMENT 165 

The legislature thus elected quickly demonstrated how 
completely the old debt issue had ceased to be a matter 
of political importance. Recalling how for thirteen 
years this question had "profoundly agitated the people 
of Virginia . . . resulting in political contests which 
have convulsed the popular mind, given repeated and 
ruinous shocks to the business interests of the state, 
retarded prosperity, and threatened the safety of the 
people"; how a "large body of the citizens and tax- 
payers" had made "persistent, repeated, and earnest 
but unavailing efforts to effect and carry out a settle- 
ment, by which a much larger sum would have been 
recognized and assumed by the state than has been 
assumed by the * Riddleberger Bill' "; and how the 
people had endorsed this bill at three successive elections 
and the highest courts had declared it valid, the legis- 
lature resolved that "any expectation that any settle- 
ment of the debt, upon any other basis, will ever be made 
or tolerated by the people of Virginia, is absolutely 
illusory and hopeless," and that the interests of both 
creditors and the state required its complete acceptance 
by both. Not a vote was recorded against this resolu- 
tion. The Readjuster Democrat Newberry introduced 
it in the Senate, the Funder Democrat William A. 
Anderson in the House. Among those who voted for 
it were A. Koiner and W. C. Wickham, ex-chairmen of 
the Funder wings of the Conservative and Republican 
parties respectively. 12 Governor Cameron signed it. 
Moreover, laws suggested by the governor and designed 

There was undoubtedly a great deal of fraud. In most places Mahone 
controlled the election of judges; and his state board of canvassers refused 
to go behind the returns. Half the ' ' Southwest, ' ' two-thirds of the Valley, 
and all the cities but Norfolk and Petersburg went Democratic. 
12 Acts, 1883-1884, p. 7; House and Senate Journals. 



166 READJUSTEE MOVEMENT IN VIRGINIA 

to make the Riddleberger Act and the ' ' Coupon Killers ' ' 
more effective were enacted without difficulty. 13 

Nor did the legislature undo or attempt to undo any 
of the other economic and social legislation of the 
Readjusters, the more liberal suffrage, the larger appro- 
priations for schools and charities, the lower and fairer 
taxes, and the abolition of the whipping-post. On the 
contrary, it desired to supplement and extend them all. 1 * 
For such legislation was, unquestionably, the "will of 
the people." 

If in these matters the legislature followed the Read- 
juster creed, still more did it acknowledge the influence 
of the Mahone system in its political activities. Acting 
upon the pointed advice of the new state committee, 15 
individual members forbore to seek offices for them- 
selves, and the caucus smoothly and equitably appor- 
tioned the patronage. 16 Next, by prompt and vigorous 
efforts, the Democratic majority in each house was 
increased to two-thirds. 17 Then the task of breaking 
the grip of the machine was begun. The governor's 
share in the appointment of the commissioner of agri- 
culture and of the capitol police was taken away. 18 The 
boards of all the asylums were declared vacant and the 
appointment of their members was transferred from the 

is Governor, Message, December, 1883; Acts, 1883-1884, pp. 504, 527; 
Acts, 1884 (extra session), p. 163. 

i* Above, ch. 12. Cf. the white female normal school in the "South- 
side" and the lunatic asylum in the "Southwest," Acts, 1883-1884, pp. 
417, 692. The House directed that a bill for separate negro teachers and 
trustees for negro schools be reported, but nothing resulted, House 
Jour., p. 86. 

is Dispatch, November 23, 25, 1883. 

is Especially pleasing was the selection of Col. Frank G. Buffin as 
second auditor, the officer in charge of public debt operations and of the 
literary fund and member of the board of public works. 

n"New Virgina" ; Buffin, Scrap-Book, II, p. 224. 

is House Jour., 1883-1884, pp. 274, 752, 754. 



THE END OF READJUSTMENT 167 

governor to the board of public works. 19 Over the heads 
of the county superintendents of schools was held a 
threat of fine and loss of office for active participation 
in politics. 20 The appointment of school trustees was 
taken from the boards, composed each of county judge, 
superintendent, and commonwealth's attorney, and given 
to new boards elected by the legislature. 21 Registrars, 
judges, and clerks of elections were treated in a similar 
fashion, without any adequate provision being made for 
representation of both parties. 22 The charters of towns 
were changed so as to require new registration of voters 
and otherwise to aid Democratic control. 23 The state 
was redistricted for Congress, not indeed with such 
disregard of numerical equality as Mahone had shown, 
but with such obvious political bias that the governor 
declared the new arrangement would give one party 
seven or eight of the ten representatives on the basis 
of the nearly balanced vote at the last Congressional 
election. 24 To justify such strenuous and high-handed 
procedure, and to obtain material for the next campaign, 
as well as to bring the guilty to bar, partisan investi- 
gations were made into every cranny of Mahoneite 
official activity. These investigations brought to light 
a mass of incompetence, petty graft, and violent partisan- 
ship, and some gross mismanagement. Yet on the 
whole it may be said that the tone of the reports was 
rather judicial than partisan and though the terror of 
prosecution was held over some, the object in the end 
seemed to be to prevent and reclaim rather than to 
punish. Upon the public records, the legislature spread 

™ Acts, 1883-1884, p. 155; House Jour., pp. 482-513. 

20 Acts, 1883-1884, pp. 684, 698. 

2i Ibid., p. 177; 1884 (special session), p. 119. 

22 Sen. Jour., 1884, p. 23; Acts of August 25, November 29, 1884. 

23 Norfolk, Portsmouth, Danville, Petersburg. 

24 House Jour., 1883-1884, p. 556. 



168 READJUSTEE MOVEMENT IN VIRGINIA 

a demand that Mahone, as the instigator of strife between 
the races, a traitor to the party that had elected him, 
and a tradncer of the state he represented, should resign 
his seat in the United States Senate. And it sat at this 
work, at intervals, till past the November elections of 

1884, with no little inconvenience to its members and at 
the risk of a popular reaction. 25 

Meantime Mahone fought what was perhaps his most 
brilliant campaign. In point of intelligence and respecta- 
bility the "Coalitionist" state convention of April 23, 

1885, was undoubtedly the strongest that he had ever 
got together. A flag of the United States draped the 
chairman's platform, and around the arch behind, one 
could read, "With malice to none, with charity to all." 
Matters moved with clock-like precision. Governor 
Cameron's administration was endorsed "like a flash," 
even though the governor himself pleaded indisposition 
to the demand for a "speech." Tremendous cheers 
greeted "Mahone, the black man's friend." "With all 
the dramatic effect he could bring to bear, ' ' Mahone read 
the platform. In it for the first time the name Repub- 
lican was officially taken — "the Republican party of 
Virginia. ' ' No mention was made of Readjustment ; the 
emphasis was laid upon liberalism, in state as well as 
nation. Despite the spirited objection of some who 
preferred Blaine, the delegates to the national convention 
were instructed to vote as a unit for Arthur : ' ' We are 
for Arthur because Arthur is for us" ran the con- 
vention slogan which the delegation carried to Chicago. 
In the only important contest which came before the 
national convention, the Mahone delegates won over the 
"Straight-out." And when Wise and Riddleberger, so 
rumor had it, hoped to weaken Mahone by a rather 
precipitate "break" to Blaine, the successful candidate 

25 Dispatch, March 8, July 29; State, March 5, 6, November 29, 1884. 



THE END OF READJUSTMENT 169 

sent word that "Arthur could not have been a better 
friend to General Mahone than he would be. ' ' None the 
less, at the elections, the Cleveland ticket won by 6,000 
in 284,000 votes counted. Republicans cried fraud, 
corruption, intimidation, and claimed the state by 
15,000. Fraud there undoubtedly was, but by Repub- 
licans as well as by Democrats. That eighty-five per 
cent of the total possible vote was counted seems to 
disprove the charge of extensive intimidation. Accept- 
ance of Readjuster views by the Democrats, the race 
line, and the probability of national Democratic success, 
together with the smoother workings of the new 
machinery, would seem to account sufficiently for the 
great increase in the Democratic vote. 

With discriminating firmness the Cleveland adminis- 
tration at once proceeded to remove or suppress all 
Republican postmasters and revenue officials who had 
been unduly active in state politics — one of the things 
for which Cleveland had been elected, the Nation 
declared. By the middle of July, 1885, the task was 
fairly complete in the opinion of even so interested an 
observer as Chairman Barbour. There remained, 
accordingly, only the governorship to be "redeemed." 
For this position the Democrats pitted Fitzhugh Lee 
against John S. Wise, who still maintained a semi-inde- 
pendent allegiance to Mahone. So worn out were the 
old issues that both parties sought new ones, and these 
were usually ultra-democratic. Thus both endorsed 
"local option" in the matter of liquor licenses, both 
advocated increased pensions for Confederate soldiers 
and free text-books for the public schools, and both 
promised a variety of things calculated to win the labor 
vote. National interest was again aroused : because, said 
the New York Tribune, Virginia was the only Southern 
state where even a semblance of fair elections was main- 



170 READJUSTEE MOVEMENT IN VIRGINIA 

tained; because, said the Nation, "the whole nation is 
humiliated when any state is debased by the domina- 
tion of such a boss. ' ' For the first time, Republicans of 
national prominence came down to speak, notably, Sher- 
man and Foraker. Wise polled only 2,000 fewer votes 
than Blaine had received the year before. But Barbour 
and Lee raised the Democratic vote 6,000 above that cast 
for Cleveland. The legislature, too, was overwhelmingly 
Democratic. So was its successor. And so Daniel and 
Barbour soon superseded Mahone and Riddleberger in 
the Senate. 

A new and happier era had now clearly arrived. Eco- 
nomic conditions were much better than in 1879. Realty 
assessments showed an increase of thirty-six millions — 
more than fifteen per cent, and the tax burden of the 
farmer was proportionately fairer than of old. 26 There 
were no railroads now in the hands of receivers. Char- 
ters for new and bona fide enterprises were being issued 
in large numbers. The lower middle class continued to 
increase in numbers and in wealth; over ninety-six per 
cent of the 300,000 tithables paid less than twenty-five 
dollars each in taxes. Newspapers had increased in size, 
number, and circulation; they no longer abounded in 
huge lists of delinquent taxpayers or in cries from the 
distressed. Schools were firmly established. In 1886, 
the literary fund was converted into more than a million 
of Riddlebergers. A normal school for the whites and 
another for the colored, the former presided over by Dr. 
Ruffner during its first years, were receiving regular, if 
inadequate, assistance. By an act of 1884, appropria- 
tions for disabled Confederate soldiers had been 
increased one-half. There was a disposition to continue 

26 Eealty now contributed thirty-six per cent of the total revenue, as 
against fifty-nine per cent in 1871. 



THE END OF READJUSTMENT 171 

work on the asylum problem until no insane person 
should be confined with criminals. 

Old sectional antipathies among the upper classes had 
been greatly modified. Scalawags and carpet-baggers 
were almost entirely things of the past; their Mahoneite 
successors were at last muzzled. For the first time in 
almost a generation, ' ' real Virginians ' ' now had a share 
in the national government. They helped in the making 
of the laws, and they alone executed the laws within the 
state. They had the ear of the president. They even 
represented the nation abroad. With manifest pleas- 
ure, they saw the independent political opinion of 
the North approving their political position, and they 
rejoiced that the commercial world at last understood 
and applauded the "Bourbon" stand for the fiscal honor 
of the state. They found parental pride in the applause 
with which Fitzhugh Lee was welcomed during the 
presidential inaugural parade, and their press chronicled 
without unfavorable comment the fact that in the fol- 
lowing July he spoke at Bunker Hill. Warmed now by 
the generous attitude of Grant at Appomattox and again 
in 1869, a Democratic convention paused, on news of his 
death, to adopt resolutions of respect and sympathy. 
"Surely," said the Dispatch, "we have a united coun- 
try." "Best of all," said the Whig, in summing up 
Colonel Elam's interpretation of the Readjuster Move- 
ment, "it gave us that political regeneration which 
makes us New Virginians indeed, by transforming us 
from mere Virginians and Southerners into American 
citizens. ' ' 

But the fiscal situation was still serious. All except 
one of the state's former holdings in internal improve- 
ment companies were gone. The revenues, even after 
the reassessment of realty in 1885, showed but little 
increase over those of 1875. They could scarcely be 



172 READJUSTEE MOVEMENT IN VIRGINIA 

increased. For even if a statesmanlike policy would 
permit the imposition of a greater burden upon the 
masses, political conditions would not: Mahone, men 
said, had "corrupted the people." Nor could the ten- 
dency to reach out and tax capital be pursued far; for 
capital had not entirely forgiven the repudiating state, 
and, besides, the Democratic party must draw upon capi- 
tal in order to maintain its control. On the other hand, 
there were new and increased expenses. Some of these 
were temporary : the extra legislative expenses, for exam- 
ple, and possibly the increased criminal expenses. But 
others were unquestionably permanent: such as those 
for schools, asylums, and pensions. In general, it was 
quite clear that any increase, present or prospective, 
in the revenues of the state, as compared with the period 
of 1877-1879, was fully offset by present and prospective 
expenses that, for all practical purposes, could not be 
avoided. Obviously, the debt was still an important con- 
sideration. Even under a complete funding into "Rid- 
dlebergers" the interest would be hard to meet. So far, 
however, less than five millions had been funded, and 
creditors showed no inclination to increase the amount. 
"But public sentiment on this question was almost unani- 
mous now. When part of the legislation supplement- 
ing the ' ' Coupon-Killers ' ' was declared unconstitutional, 
other was contrived. Business men refused to use the 
old coupons, lawyers to take coupon cases. The bond- 
holders did, indeed, make a strong and spectacular legal 
fight, during which attorneys for both sides were in 
turn sent to prison for contempt. 27 But by degrees it 
became clear that the state was slowly winning : between 
1883 and 1890 the maximum amount of coupons received 
at the treasury for one year was $258,938, the minimum, 

27 For an account by the most energetic and daring of the bondholders ' 
counsel, see Eoyall, Some Reminiscences. 



THE END OF READJUSTMENT 173 

$40,540. So the holders of consols and ten-forties 
yielded. By agreeing to the act of February 20, 1892, 
they accepted the essential principles of the Riddle- 
berger Act. 28 The new bonds were known as "cen- 
turies"; the act, as "the settlement." There remained 
the task of compelling West Virginia to settle with 
creditors for her share of the old debt ; this was a moral 
obligation assumed as part of "the settlement." But 
the economic and fiscal problem of Virginia was at last 
solved. 

Though Mahone's control over the state was never 
restored, the Republican party retained its newly won 
supremacy in over one-half of the "Southwest" and 
about one-third of the Valley and in the cities of Nor- 
folk and Petersburg. It was more strongly entrenched 
than of old in the rest of the "Southwest" and the 
Valley. In the "East" it once more controlled in most 
of the counties with large negro majorities and in some 
cases where the negroes were not in the majority. 
Improvement in Republican leadership was noteworthy 
throughout the state. But the quality of its masses 
improved little in the "East." Over this party 
Mahone's personal domination continued, though his 
most trusted lieutenants left him. Defeat did not 
crush his spirit or destroy his unique prestige in 
national politics. 

The Democratic party in Virginia did not recede from 

28 See Governor, Message, January 14, 1892, and accompanying docu- 
ments. The commission representing Virginia consisted of P. W. McKinney, 
E. H. Cardwell, H. T. Wickham, J. Hoge Tyler, Taylor Berry, W. D. 
Dabney, and Eobert H. Tyler. F. P. Olcott was chairman of the bond- 
holders' committee. Grover Cleveland, Thomas F. Bayard, E. J. Phelps, 
George S. Coe, and George G. Williams constituted an ' ' advisory board for 
the creditors. ' ' Some points which the Beadjusters had insisted upon were 
not incorporated in the settlement, e.g., subjection of the new bonds to 
taxation. 



174 READJUSTEE MOVEMENT IN VIRGINIA 

its newly assumed preference for popular wants as 
against the interests of the creditors. Nor for fifteen 
years did it dare again legally to restrict the suffrage 
though disgust with the negro voter became more and 
more profound. The new plan of organization and the 
new methods of conducting campaigns were not aban- 
doned. The new leaders were not discarded. If in time 
control became unduly concentrated and dangerously 
close to large business interests, it was never again dis- 
tinctly Bourbon or neglectful of the new man and the 
young man. When the national Populistic movement 
came, the way had already been prepared for its accept- 
ance by the Democrats. In short, the Democratic party, 
as compared with the old Conservative party, its prede- 
cessor, was new in organization, methods, ideals, and 
leadership. These changes, constituting a compromise 
between "Radicalism" and the "Old Regime," would 
probably have come without the ' ' Readjuster Move- 
ment." But to tell how they did occur has been the 
purpose of this study. 



CONCLUSION 

Post-bellum Virginia history may be said to end with 
1885: the ten or twenty years succeeding constitute an 
appendix, which may be included or omitted without 
material difference. 

The task of the period (and its test) was internal 
readjustment — readjustment of the state's economic and 
social policies, of private enterprises and ideals, and of 
the relations of races, classes, and sections. 

Most of these problems were solved with but little 
friction owing to the domination of Conservatism. For 
Conservatism was not only a political party, it was also 
a social code and a state of mind which bound the whites 
to united and temperate action. The solution was accom- 
plished, however, under a condition of stress — of poten- 
tial conflict between aristocratic and democratic forces. 
The aristocratic forces comprised partisans of the old 
regime, weakened by emancipation, indeed, but strength- 
ened by firm alliance with capitalistic interests and by 
the gradual development of an "old soldier" cult. The 
democratic forces were the "West" and the "new" 
men whom war and reconstruction had thrust forward in 
the "East." They included also the "poor whites" and 
the freedmen; but these groups were usually impotent 
because of race antagonism. 

The Radicalism of reconstruction days and the Read- 
juster Movement a decade later were both democratic 
protests against the domination of Conservatism. Radi- 
calism, however, was largely obstructive of genuine dem- 
ocratic advance because it was exotic and rested upon 
force, and because it alienated the "West" through its 



176 READJUSTEE MOVEMENT IN VIRGINIA 

attitude toward the negro. The Readjuster Movement, 
on the other hand, was native in origin, and its democ- 
racy was meant primarily for the whites, the negroes 
being considered inferior allies. Each succeeded a well- 
defined aristocratic movement, and each ended in a com- 
promise whereby Conservatism became more democratic 
and more progressive. 

On detailed analysis, the Readjuster Movement exhib- 
its a political, an economic, and a social phase. Not 
until the breakdown of reconstruction politics, through 
the continued defeat of the Republican party and the 
overgrowth of the Conservative, could independent 
opinion make headway. Then the union of Conserva- 
tive "outs" with the Republican fragments as "Read- 
justee" was feasible. This, in turn, paved the way for 
an enlarged and rejuvenated Republican party and, 
indirectly, for a Democratic party that was smaller 
but better organized and more liberally led than its 
Conservative predecessor. 

It was economic depression that led most directly 
through the consequent fiscal embarrassment and gen- 
eral discontent, to the reception of the inciting principle 
, of the movement. This principle, that the state's 
creditors should be compelled to share in the general 
loss occasioned by war and reconstruction, gave the 
movement its name. Other things being equal, it was 
supported by the hardest-pressed individuals and com- 
munities. Eventually it became, through general acqui- 
escence, the basis of debt settlement. Organized just as 
the lowest point of depression was passed, the movement 
ended soon after the turn of the tide had become 
obvious. 

Socially, the movement aimed at a government in 
closer "touch with the people." It sought, specifically, 
taxation according to ability, unrestricted manhood suf- 



CONCLUSION 177 

frage, abolition of the special privileges of bondholders, 
" brokers," and officeholding "rings," and equalization 
of opportunity through elementary state socialism. The 
leaders were mainly self-made men of the middle class, 
marked by energy and political shrewdness. Their 
methods included agitation, disregard of precedent and 
judicial decisions, a spoils organization, and, eventually, 
a boss. The response of the white masses was loud and 
strong in the democratic "West"; in the "East," doubt- 
ful and hesitating. The end of the movement found 
many "new" men in prominent places. It also found 
the "will of the people" accepted as the criterion of 
public policies, and the discovery and organization of 
that will recognized as the first duty of party leaders. 
For a short time the negro seemed about to become a 
part of this political ' ' people ' ' ; but the habit of implicit 
obedience to overseers and a boss proved too strong. 
These results seemed to necessitate, and to anticipate, 
the elimination of the negro as a voter and a wider 
extension of the state's social activities, especially in 
education. 

Lastly, our study affords an illustration of the inter- 
play of local independent movements and national poli- 
tics. Undoubtedly Greenbackism aided in the inception 
of Readjustment, and Readjustment prepared the soil 
for Populism in Virginia. On the other hand, Repub- 
lican supporters of the national credit and of the great 
private "interests" aided repudiation in Virginia; and 
the combination of ignorance in Virginia and federal 
patronage under a boss made possible the only political 
breach yet made in the new "Solid South." 



BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 

This note indicates the nature of the material used. No 
attempt is made at a complete enumeration. 

MONOGRAPHS 

C. H. Ambler, Sectionalism in Virginia from 1776 to 1861 
(1910), H. J. Eckenrode, Political History of Virginia during 
the Reconstruction (1904), and J. P. McConnell, Negroes and 
Their Treatment in Virginia, 1865-1867 (1909), furnish the 
political background subject to the limitations implied in their 
titles. G. "W. Dyer, Democracy in the South before the Civil 
War (1905) is incomplete but suggestive. For the economic 
and .social side the above, B. W. Arnold, History of the Tobacco 
Industry in Virginia from 1860 to 1894 (1897), and the con- 
tributions of Bruce, Dyer, Clark and others in The South in 
the Building of the Nation (1909) have been used. "William A. 
Scott, The Repudiation of State Debts (1893) roughly sketches 
the debt history to 1893. George W. Green in Lalor's Cyclope- 
dia of Political Science, article "Repudiation," and R. P. 
Porter in the History of State Debts (Vol. VII of the tenth 
census) give useful summaries of debatable figures. Semi- 
historical in its treatment is F. A. Magruder, Recent Adminis- 
tration in Virginia (1912), which appeared too late to be of 
any considerable service. A. D. Mayo, Common School Edu- 
cation in the South (Commissioner of Education, Report, 1901, 
I, Ch. XI) gives a convenient and suggestive account, largely 
of the work of Dr. Sears, down to 1876. 

AUTOBIOGRAPHIES, MEMOIRS, ETC. 

As yet works of this character either end with the war or 
keep as far as possible from Virginian movements and condi- 
tions. There are some exceptions. Wm. L. Royall, History of 



BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 179 

the Virginia Debt Controversy (1897) is the work of a native 
attorney for the bondholders; his Some Reminiscences (1909) 
presents the mature views of an ardent young participant of 
the old school. Col. R. E. Withers, Lieutenant-Governor and 
United States Senator, hated Mahone as much as he could hate 
anyone, and his delightful Autobiography of an Octogenarian 
(1907) reflects this as well as some slight lapses of memory. 
Governor Charles T. O'Ferrall came from west of the Blue 
Ridge and in the early '70 's was a Readjuster — perhaps this, 
perhaps his native kindliness, tempered the tone of his Forty 
Years of Active Service (1904). John Goode, Congressman and 
president of the last constitutional convention, was in the thick 
of most of the political fights, but his Recollections of a Life- 
time (1906) tells little of them. The Autobiography of John 
E. Massey (1909) is valuable for the spirit of Massey and for 
his writings and speeches, but it is marred by the failure of the 
editor to indicate which parts of it are of her composition ; much 
of it appears to be compiled from the Richmond Whig. Alder- 
man and Gordon, J. L. 31. Curry; T. C. Johnson, Robert L. 
Dabney; and Memoirs of Gov. William Smith, contain impor- 
tant material. Of outsiders who touch Virginia affairs, A. K. 
McClure (Recollections of Half a Century and The South: Its 
Industrial, Financial and Political Conditions, 1886) and Hugh 
McCulloch (Men and Measures) are consistently friendly to the 
anti-Readjuster, or Funder, element, with whom they were at 
times associated in business; T. C. Piatt (Autobiography) saw 
only Republican machine interests; James G. Blaine (Twenty 
Years in Congress) and John Sherman (Recollections of Forty 
Years) changed sides and views according to party exigencies. 

CONTEMPORARY UNOFFICIAL PUBLICATIONS 

The State press mirrors, but with much concealment and dis- 
tortion, every feature of the period. To an unusual degree the 
Richmond newspapers dominated the rest. Long before the 
war, began the rivalry of the Enquirer and the Whig, both 
dictators of opinion, while the Dispatch was an humble gatherer 
of news. After the war, the news capacity, business sense, and 



180 READJUSTEE MOVEMENT IN VIRGINIA 

political instinct of the Dispatch made it (under the direction 
of Ellyson and Cowardin) the most prosperous and influential. 
The Enquirer became the organ of the bondholding and aristo- 
cratic faction, suspending in 1877. The State, founded in 1875 
by J. Hampden Chamberlayne and edited by himself and 
Packard Beirne, succeeded after a fashion to the Enquirer's 
views and clientage. The Whig identified itself with the Read- 
juster movement and the fortunes of General Mahone, and ex- 
pired in 1888. The Virginia State Library has preserved and 
listed these ; slight gaps may be filled at the Congressional 
Library, with the apparent exceptions of the Whig of 1875 and 
the Enquirer of July-November, 1876. Others preserved and 
listed in the Virginia State Library are : The Southern Planter 
and Farmer (1872-1876) ; The Commonwealth (Funder, daily, 
William L. Eoyal editor, February- July, 1880) ; The Religious 
Herald (Baptist, weekly, 1870-1882 — other numbers in the 
library of Richmond College) ; the Southern Churchman (Epis- 
copalian, weekly, 1880-1882) ; the Educational Journal of Vir- 
ginia (organ of the Virginia Educational Association after 
November, 1869, edited by C. H. Winston, monthly; later the 
semi-official and then the official organ of the state board of edu- 
cation). Preserved and listed by the Norfolk public library are : 
The Norfolk Landmark (Conservative, liberal, daily, James Bar- 
ron Hope editor, M. Glennan managing editor) and The Nor- 
folk Ledger (Conservative, daily). Typical town papers are 
The Virginia Herald (1871) and The Virginia Star (1877-1879), 
Conservative semi-weekly, Fredericksburg, which were loaned 
to me by Judge A. T. Embrey of that town. The Northern Neck 
News (1880, weekly, Conservative, edited in part by Wm. A. 
Jones, preserved in its office at Warsaw) is representative of the 
country newspapers. No Republican state papers appear to 
be extant except the Southern Intelligencer (1880, Richmond, 
daily, John R. Popham editor, in the Virginia State Library) 
and the Valley Virginian (1881-1884, Staunton, H. H. Riddle- 
berger editor, weekly, in the Congressional Library). Of out- 
side papers the Nation is valuable for the independent (though 
ill-informed) Northern view. New York dailies followed polit- 
ical situations closely but not with either accuracy or fairness. 



BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 181 

Even more partisan was the National Republican (Washing- 
ton), a "Mahone sheet." The magazine literature (which treats 
the legal side of the debt question chiefly) is unimportant; it is 
sufficiently indicated in Scott, Repudiation of State Debts, pp. 
272-274. Few pamphlets of the earlier period remain; many 
of the later have recently come to the State Library. The views 
of Readjusters who refused to follow Mahone into the Repub- 
lican party are presented with great fullness by Frank G. Ruffin 1 
and, to a less extent, by A. M. Lybrook, 2 the former previously 
a Democrat, the latter previously a Republican. Gilbert C. 
Walker and C. U. Williams present early Funder opinions on 
the debt. "New Virginia'' (published originally in the Whig in 
1885 and probably the work of its editor, W. C. Elam, or of S. B. 
French) gives a review of the entire period in the light in which 
Mahone wished the North to see it. This was loaned me by 
Judge Goolrick, of Fredericksburg. The others are in the Vir- 
ginia State Library. American Politics (1882) by Thomas V. 
Cooper and Hector T. Fenton, of Pennsylvania, contains an 
unusually bold statement of the Camerons' share in the events 
of the later period. Nine editions of this book were issued by 
1885 with the account unchanged. For election returns and 
party affiliations of legislators the WarrocJc-Richardson Almanac 
is invaluable. The Proceedings of the State Grange (State 
Library, 1874-1876) should be studied in connection with the 
Southern Planter. 

OFFICIAL PUBLICATIONS 

The usual state publications are practically complete in the 
State Library. They are often badly digested and partisan. 
The Annual Reports of Boards, Officers and Institutions con- 
tain : Reports of the Auditor, the Second Auditor, the Treasurer, 

i His pamphlets, largely reprints of newspaper articles, are cited as : 
Mahoneisrn Unveiled (no date, probably 1882); An Appeal (1883); Facts, 
etc. (1885, "Facts, Thoughts and Conclusions in regard to the Public Debt 
of Virginia"). Colonel Euffin is unusually accurate in his facts and thor- 
oughly honest. His Scrap-Bool' in five volumes is also in the State Library. 

2 Judge Lybrook 's pamphlet (cited as Malionism Unveiled) is a reprint 
of his letter to the Dispatch (1882). 



182 READJUSTEE MOVEMENT IN VIRGINIA 

the State Superintendent of Public Instruction (also published 
separately as Virginia School Reports) and the various boards 
of which the Sinking Fund Commission, the Board of Public 
Works (continued by the Railroad Commissioner from 1877 
and published separately), and the trustees of various asylums, 
colleges, etc., are most important. House Bills, 1881-1882, is 
incomplete but valuable. There is an Index to the Acts of the 
Assembly in their manuscript form (in which they are known 
as "Enrolled Bills"). The House and Senate Journals contain 
the governor's messages and other documents, usually as an 
appendix. Major "Jed" Hotchkiss published under authority 
of the legislature a Summary of Virginia, Geographical and 
Political, which is valuable for its maps. Contested elections 
for state officers were occasionally presented as House or Sen- 
ate documents; those for federal offices are easily accessible 
through C. H. Rowell's Historical and Legal Digest. The 
figures given in the returns of the United States census officials 
cannot be considered more than approximations, as these offi- 
cials were often untrustworthy. The Ku Klux Committee 
Report (House Reports, 42 Cong., 2d sess., no. 22, pt. 1) is 
negatively valuable. 

MANUSCRIPTS 

The large collection of Ruffner Papers was placed unre- 
servedly at my disposal by Dr. and Mrs. R. F. Campbell, of 
Asheville, N. C. For selections from the Fulkerson Papers and 
the Dickinson Papers, I am indebted to Mr. S. V. Fulkerson, of 
Bristol, Virginia, and Miss Camilla Dickinson, of Richmond. 
J. Willcox Brown, of Afton, Virginia, has recently deposited 
with the Virginia State Library a collection of manuscript arti- 
cles, in the nature of recollections, by himself. The Harvie 
Papers, discovered by Prof. C. H. Ambler and deposited in the 
State Library by Dr. Armistead G. Taylor, 3 contain letters from 
Gen. William Mahone and other Readjusters to Col. Lewis E. 
Harvie, of Amelia County and Richmond. The large and care- 
fully preserved collection of Mahone Papers, hitherto inacces- 

s See Eeport of the Virginia State Library for 1913-1914, p. 7. 



BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 183 

sible to students, was, through the courtesy of Mr. and Mrs. 
"W. L. McGill, placed at my disposal for consultation on 
crucial points. The state Land Books are invaluable for an 
understanding of economic conditions. Under the enlightened 
and energetic policy of the State Library's present management 
other similar material will probably soon be available. 

"PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS" 

Under this title are entered memoranda of conversations with 
men who were participants in the situation described but whose 
names it is not advisable to give at present. 



INDEX 



INDEX 



Agricultural and Mechanical Insti- 
tute, 44 

Allen Amendment, 86, 90, 124 

Allen, S. B., 148 

Anderson, W. A., 2, note 6, 32, note 
31, 165 

Arthur, C. A., 140, 156, 168 

Associations, benevolent and frater- 
nal, 147 

Atlantic, Mississippi and Ohio Kail- 
way, 27, 28, note 16, 69, 70, 
note 7, 146 

Auditor, 62, 148 

Barbour Bill, 78, 79, 80, 95, 123 
Barbour, James, 22, note 27, 70, 

note 7, 95, 111, 140 
Barbour, J. S., 163, 169, 170 
"Big Four," 153, 158 
Bigger, J. B., 116 
Blaine, J. G., 140, note 36, 168 
Blair, 82, 122, 139 
Bocock-Fowler Act, 79 
Bourbons, 19-21, 53, 62, 66, 71, 

132, note 3, 133, note 4 
Branch, James, 11, note 40 
Brown, J. W., 10, note 34, 14, note 

53 

Cameron, Don, 139, 141 

Cameron, Simon, 33, 134, 135, 138 

Cameron, W. E., 74, 111, 113, 139, 

140, 142, 157, 163, 165, 168 
Canal, James Biver and Kanawha, 

3, 7, 22, note 17, 44, 48 
Christian Advocate, The Bichmond, 

116 
Cities, 91, 130 
"Civis," 54, note 17, 87, note 9 



Cleveland, Grover, 169 

Colleges, 62 

Confederates, 19, 76, 109, 146, 169, 
170 

Conservative Party 

Prior to 1879: origin, 19-21; 
plan of organization, 37, 39, 
40, 49; dominant issue, 37 
(1870), 40 (1871), 48 (1873); 
campaign methods, 37, 39, 41, 
49, 68; and national affairs, 39, 
132; factions, 36-38 (1870- 
1871), 48 (1873), 71-74 (1877), 
79-82 (1878) ; negroes and, 22, 
35, 39; and the state debt, 30, 
42, 44, 53, 74, 78, 118, 120- 
140, 160; conventions, 39, 48, 
73, 133, 140; see Suffrage, 
Schools, Lunatics, Confederates, 
Public Works, Bailroads, Taxes 
Becomes Funder: 120; see Fund- 

ers 
Becomes Democratic Party: see 
Democratic Party 

Consols, 43, 52, 86, 143, 173 

Constitution, makers of, 17; analy- 
sis of, 17, 18; a campaign 
issue, 19-23; amendment, 50, 
55; question of new, 50, 80 

Counties, government of, 18, 44; 
see Economic Conditions 

Coupons, 51, 52, 90, 172; "coupon- 
killers," 143, 162, 172 

Courts, organization of, 18; de- 
cisions of, 43, 162, 172; agita- 
tion against, 46, 81 ; Bead- 
justers and, 125, 129 

Credit, the Bestoration of Policy, 
24, 26, 27, 29-33, 42-44 



188 



INDEX 



Creditors, State, 9, 32, 43 and note 

20, 52, 85, 86, 89 
Crime, 54, 55 
Curry, J. L. M., 84, note 57, 116, 

135, note 12 

Daniel, J. W., 30, note 27, 40, note 
13, 49, note 6, 68, 74, 81, note 
53, 116, 125, 140, 170 

Daniel, E. T., 20, note 10, 21, note 
15, 49 

Danville Eiot, 163 

Debt, Local Public, 91 

Debt, Private, 14, 19, 25, 26, 27, 44, 
92, 93 

Debt, State, ante helium, 2, 3, 6, 
8-12 (1865), 19 (1867), 24, 26 
(1870), 29 (1871), 42 (1872), 
51, 64 (1874), 58, 62, 74 
(1877), 78, 83 (1878), 85, 100, 
120, 122 (1879), 142 (1882), 
162, 165 (1883), 172 (1892) 

Debt Payers, 53-58, 88, 95 

Democratic Party, before Civil War, 
103, 106; relation of Conserv- 
ative to, 133 and note; Con- 
servative succeeded by, 163 
(1884); and state debt, 162, 
165, 172; plan of organization, 
162; dominant issue, 161 
(1883), 169 (1884); campaign 
methods, 163, 169; and the 
"will of the people," 161, 166, 
174; and the Mahone machine, 
166; see Schools, Lunatics, 
C on federates, Railroads, Taxes 

Dispatch, The Eichmond, 15, 22, 29, 
30, 33, 60, 73, 76, 77, 83, 97, 
116, 171 

Duelling, 71, 114, 147 

Dyson, H. H., 148 

Early, J. A., 39, 164 

"East," The, characteristics of, 

108-111; vote of, 130, 173 
Echols, John, 78, note 42, 82 



Economic Conditions, 7, 8, 24-26, 91- 

93, 170 
Elam, W. C, 113, 114, 148 
Elections, federal supervision, 134, 

note 9, 132; frauds, 49, 156; 

laws, 157, 164, note 11, 167 
Emigration, 93 and note 36 
Enquirer, The Eichmond, 15, 25, 28 

and note 19, 30, 73, 80 

Farmers, 24, 45, 92; see Grangers 

Parr, E. E., 59, note 31, 78, note 42, 
148 

Fauntleroy, T. T., 148 

Finances, condition of state, 5-7 
(1861), 7 (1865), 24, 31 (1870- 
1871), 50-58, 61, 62 (1874), 88- 
91 (1879), 144 (1882), 171 
(1885-1892); see Debt, Taxes 

Fulkerson, A., 45, note 29, 63, 64, 
72, 95, 97, note 8, 105, 138, 
152, note 42, 160 

Fultz, D., 48 

Funders, attitude on debt, 98, note 
13, 118; leaders, 115-117, 126; 
campaign methods, 98, 140, 161- 
163 ; becomes Democratic Party, 
163; see Conservative Party, 
Democratic Party . 

Funding Act, The, 29, 30; objec- 
tions to, 31-33, 41, 64, 100; 
attempt to repeal, 43, 65; de- 
cision of court, 43 

Goode, John, 29, note 22, 82, note 

54, 116 
Goode, Samuel, 97 
Gorham, G. C, 138, 154 
Grandstaff Act, 145 
Grangers, 59, 76, 147 
Grant, U. S., 21, 37 and note 7, 135, 

136, 137, 171 
Green, Duff, 77 
Greenbackers, 81 
Groner, V. D., 22, note 17, 112 



INDEX 



189 



Harris, J. T., 82 

Hayes, E. B., 127, 128, note 57, 134, 

135, 138 
Hazlewood, N. W., 59, note 31, 147 
Henkel Act, 87 
Henkel, L\ W., 87 
Hoar, G. F., 138 
Holliday, F. W. M., 68, 74, 75 and 

note 27, 79, 85, 90, 142 
Hughes, E. W., 22, note 17, 36, note 

5, 48, 84, note 57 
Hunter, E. M. T., 52, 56, 64, 115 

Independents, reason for, 38, 75, 
76; views of, 46; and the debt, 
78, 88; in the "Southwest" 
and Valley, 106; in 1877, 76- 
80; and Eeadjuster Party, 96, 
126 

Johnson, B. T., 2, note 4, 29, note 
22, 82, 88, note 12, 118, note 4, 
120 

Johnston, J. E., 81, note 53, 82 

Johnston, J. W., 115 

Keiley, A. M., 140 

Kemper, J. L., 43, note 21, 49, 50- 

58, 70, note 7 
Koiner, A., 165 

Labor, 147, 169 

Lacy, J. H., 63, 69, note 6 

Landmark, The Norfolk, 71, 74, note 
25, 98, note 11, 116 

Lee, Fitzhugh, 68, 74, 169, 171 

Lee, E, E., 60 

Legislature, appointing power, 18, 
148, 165; number and sessions, 
55; characteristics of, 9, 24, 45, 
54, note 17, 55, 79, 85, 126, 151, 
165, 166 

Letcher, John, 78 

Lewis, John F., 33, note 36, 137, 
139 

Lewis, L. L., 137 



Literary Fund, 4, 145, 162, 170 
Logan, T. M., 116 
Lovell, J. T., 116, 120, note 8 
Lunatics, care of, 54, 63, note 39, 

146, 166, 171 
Lybrook, A. M., 63 

Mahone, William, 22, 27, 30, 68-74, 
80, 90, 97, 99, 101, 102, 114, 
115, 119, 124, 135-139, 147, 150- 
158, 168, 169, 170, 173 

Massey, J. E., 63, 64, 77, 111-113, 
124, 128, 147, 148, 152, 157, 
160, 161 

McCulloch Act, enactment and 
terms, 85-89, 118; feasibility, 
89-94; operation, 119; attacks 
on, 100, 123, 124 

McCulloch, Hugh, 52, 85, note 5, 
125 

McMullin, F., 82, 124 

Mann, W. H., 59, note 31, 80, note 
48, 150, note 37 

Moffett Bill, 57, 76, 144 

Newberry, S., 83, 153, note 44, 163 
Negroes, legislation on (1865-1866), 
14; in constitutional convention, 
17; in legislature, 24, 29; 
party attitude of, 38, 39, 41; 
Eeadjusters and, 97, 98, 127-129, 
130, 138, 146, 151, 154, 163; 
desires of, 109, 127; as an 
economic factor, 26, 92; con- 
dition of, 109; distribution, 
105, 106, 108, 109; see Dan- 
ville Eiot 
Newspapers, 97, 118, 121, note 15 

O'Ferrall, C. T., 45, note 29, 107, 

note 17, 108 
Officials, State, 55 

Parties, see Coalition, Conservative, 
Democratic, Funder, Eeadjuster, 
Eepuolican 



190 



INDEX 



Party Machinery, Conservative, 37, 
39, 40, 49; Eeadjuster, 101, 
151-159; Democratic, 162 

Paul, John, 78, note 42, 82, 88, note 
16, 107, 124, 138, 152, note 42 

Peelers, 43, 45, 58, 86 

Peirpoint, Governor, 9, 71, note 12 

Pennsylvania Central Eailroad, 28 

Phlegar, A. A., 121, note 16, 124 

Piedmont, The, 108 and note 23 

Powell, J. L., 77 

Public Works, state system of, 
origin, 1-6; condition of, 7, 12 
(1865); disposal of, 13, 22, 26- 
29, 44, 51, 145, note 15, 171; 
see Railroads, Canal 

Puryear, B., see ' ' Civis ' ' 

Eadicals, see Republican Party 

Eailroads, ante helium, 3, 7, 12, 13 
1865), 24, 31 (1870); consoli- 
dation acts, 27-29; in politics, 
22, 28, 41, 69, 71, 139, 158, 
172; taxation, 56, 144 and note 
13 

Eamsdell, C. P., 48, 49, note 6, 137, 
note 20 

Eeconstruction, Congressional, 17- 
22; "undoing" of, 50 

Eeadjuster Movement 

Original Readjusters, 63-66; see 

Massey, FulTcerson, Lacy 
Readjuster Conservatives : 72-75, 
78-82, 88, 120; see Barbour 
Bill, Democratic Party 
Readjuster Party : movements 
leading to formation, 80, 95- 
98; leaders of, 99, 105, 107, 
108, 118, 126, 127; campaigns 
of, 98-101, 118-130 (1879), 136, 
137 (1880), 139 (1880); legis- 
lation, 142-147, 151 ; appoint- 
ments, 147-149; and the courts, 
149-150; in national politics, 
135-139, 150, 154, 156; ma- 
chine of, 101, 151-159; factions, 



153, 160, 162; fusion, see Re- 
publican Party, Coalitionists; 
importance of, 146, 151, 169- 
174, 175-177 

Eeligious Herald, The, 116 

Eepublican Party 

Prior to 1881: composition of, 20, 
22, 35, 38, 40, 47, 49, 104; 
policies, 17-19 (1867-1869), 36 
(1870), 40 (1871), 45 (1872), 
48 (1873) ; disorganization, 50, 
68, 75, 137, note 20; and Ee- 
adjuster Party, 96, 127 
Coalitionists: origin of idea, 134; 
Cameron and Mahone for, 135 ; 
failure of, 136 (1880) ; federal 
patronage, 138, 154, 156; co- 
operation with Eeadjusters, 139 
(1881); campaigns, 161 (1882), 
162 (1883), 157 (1884); ma- 
chine broken, 166; becomes Ee- 
publican Party, 168 

Eepudiation, of State Debt, 11, 45, 
52, 57, 73, 99, 122, 143, 165, 
172; of Private Debt, 14, 25, 
122 

Beverley, D. E., 148 

Eeynolds, C. M., 148 

Eichmond, J. B., 82 

Eiddleberger, H. H., 39, 45, note 29, 
65, note 50, 74, 99, 101, 107, 
138, 150, 161, 168 

Eiddleberger Bill, 142, 155, 165 

" Eiddlebergers, " 143, 156 

Eogers, Asa, 148 

Eoyall, W. L., 84, note 57, 118, note 
4 

Euffin, F. G., 59, note 31, 64, 113 

Euffner, W. H., 48, 60-63, 113, 115, 
157 

Schools, ante bellum, 4, 5 ; in con- 
stitution, 18, 19; Act of 1870, 
27; progress and difficulties, 
60-63, 87, 145, 149, 158, 163, 
170; political parties and, 20, 



INDEX 



191 



27, 37, 40, 49, note 6, 62, 72, 
145, 149, 158, 163, 166, 167, 
169, 170; see Buffner, W. H., 
Barbour Bill, EenJcel Act, 
Grandstaff Act 
Sections, 103-112, 130; see "West," 
"East," "Southwest," Val- 
ley, Tidewater, Piedmont 
Settlement, The, 172 (1892) 
Sherman, John, 136 and note 19, 

169 
Sinking Fund, 57, 58, 86 
Smith, William, 7, note 25, 78 
Social Classes, 109-111, 146 
Southern Intelligencer, The, 137 
Southern Planter, The, 59, note 31, 

62 
Southside, The, 108 and note 23 
' ' Southwest, ' ' The, characteristics 
of, 103-105; vote, 130, note 65, 
164, 173 
State, The Eichmond, 83, 116 
State Journal, The, 36 
Stearns, Franklin, 22 
Stuart, A. H. H., 20, note 10, 21, 

note 13, 65 
Suffrage, constitutional provisions, 
18; frauds, 49, 156; legal limi- 
tations, 50, 146; Eeadjusters 
and, 151; Democrats and, 166, 
174 

Taliaferro, W. B., 68 

Taxes, ante oellum, 6; constitution 
and, 18; Acts imposing, 11, 44, 
45, 50, 56, 57, 144-146, 166; 



parties and, 40, 53, 75, 144, 

166; collection of, 44, 144, 148; 

burden of, 56, 93, 94, 124, 170; 

see Coupons 
Ten-forties, 86 
Terry, W. T., 68 
Tidewater, The, 108 
Towns, relative prosperity of, 91, 

92; vote, 130; charters, 164, 

167 
Tucker, J. R., 81, note 53, 116 

Vaiden, V., 101 

Valley, The, characteristics of, 105- 
107; vote, 130, note 65, 173 

Walker, G. C, 21, 22, 26, 28, note 

19, 32, 35, 39, 40, note 13, 42, 

47, 50, note 9, 60 
West Virginia, and the state debt, 

9 and note 33, 30, note 26, 32, 

86, 122, 143 and note 5 
Whig, The, 15, 20, 21, 29 and note 

21, 30, 33, 46, 60, 69, 77, 81, 

83, 96, 97, 111, 113, 129, 136, 

171 
Whigs, party attitude of former, 36, 

37, 104 
Wise, J. S., 74, 82, 111, 157, 161, 

168, 169 
Wise, Eichard, 112 
Wickham, W. C, 36, note 5, 71, 

note 14, 84, note 57, 117, 137, 

165 
Withers, E. E., 20, note 10, 22, note 

17, 49, 50, 115 









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